District of Columbia

WASHINGTON – Darren Patterson, 31, a previously convicted felon from Washington D.C., was sentenced in U.S. District Court today to 36 months in federal prison in connection with an April 2024 incident in which he attempted to flee from police in his car, struck several vehicles, drove his vehicle into a fence, and crashed into a tree. At his arrest, Patterson was found to be in possession of more than 70 grams of crack cocaine and in illegal possession of a stolen Glock 47 that had been outfitted to fire as a machine gun.

            The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr., FBI Special Agent in Charge Sean Ryan of the Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division, and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department.

            Patterson pleaded guilty on July 25, 2024, to unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon. In addition to the 36-month prison term, U.S. District Court Loren L. AliKhan ordered Patterson to serve three years of supervised release.

            According to court documents, on April 13, 2024, members of the MPD’s Fifth District Crime Suppression Team (CST) were patrolling in the 1000 block 16th Street, NE. The officers approached a sedan parked on the block and observed a black firearm in plain view in between the feet of Patterson, who was seated behind the wheel. Officers attempted to stop Patterson for further investigation, but Patterson attempted to flee. He reversed the car, causing it to strike another vehicle that was parked behind it. Officers again attempted to stop Patterson, at which point he drove forward, struck a second parked vehicle, and then drove onto the public sidewalk. Patterson then crashed the car into a private fence before driving the car into a tree, which finally stopped him. 

            During a search of the car, MPD officers recovered a stolen Glock 47 that had one round in the chamber, and 19 rounds in the magazine. The stolen firearm was outfitted with a “giggle switch” that allowed it to be operated as a fully automatic machine gun.

            In a search of Patterson, officers recovered crack cocaine – 13 grams of a white rock-like substance in his pocket, 58.5 grams of a white rock-like substance on the ground where Patterson was arrested – and $2,030 from his person.

            Patterson previously had been convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm (prior conviction); possession with intent to distribute marijuana; and attempted possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.

            This case was investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Emory Cole, Meredith Mayer-Dempsey, and Jared English.

24cr204

WASHINGTON — Alonte Wilkinson, 31, of Washington D.C., was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 57 months in federal prison for illegal possession of a firearm, a “ghost gun” that was recovered after he was stopped by police on suspicion of shoplifting from a CVS in Southwest Washington D.C.

            The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr., FBI Special Agent in Charge Sean Ryan of the Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division, and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Wilkinson pleaded guilty on October 23, 2024, to unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon. In addition to the 57-month prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Reggie B. Walton ordered Wilkinson to serve three years of supervised release.

            According to court documents on January 17, 2024, about 5 p.m., MPD officers were conducting a retail theft operation at the CVS on the 1100 block of 4th Street SW. At 5:18 p.m., Wilkinson and another man entered the store. At 5:22 p.m., two CVS employees took note of Wilkinson and the other man exiting the store without paying for their items. The officers stopped the pair as they walked northbound on 4th Street SW.

            MPD officers searched both men. One of the officers recovered a firearm from Wilkinson’s right jacket pocket. Wilkinson claimed he had a license to carry a concealed weapon, but that he did not have the license in his possession. The firearm recovered from the Wilkinson was a Glock 27 .40 caliber pistol with one live round in the chamber, and 12 more rounds in the magazine. The serial number on the pistol was obliterated and rendered unreadable. A check of the D.C. Gun Registry database revealed that Wilkinson did not have a license to carry a firearm nor was the firearm in his possession registered to him, given the obliterated serial number.

            A criminal history search confirmed that Wilkinson was a felon, having been previously convicted for a firearms offense in 2019 for which he was sentenced to prison for more than one year.

            This case was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office and the Metropolitan Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Emory Cole.

24cr0058

           WASHINGTON –James T. Callahan, the International President of the International Union of Operating Engineers, pleaded guilty to knowingly filing false annual reports with the United States Department of Labor. These reports, called LM-30s, are required by law and must be truthful and complete. 

           The plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr. for the District of Columbia.

           Callahan, of Lindenhurst, NY, appeared before U.S. District Court Judge Ana C. Reyes of the U.S. District Court for the District of the District of Columbia who accepted his plea of guilty.  Judge Reyes will determine any sentence for Callahan after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Judge Reyes scheduled sentencing for May 19, 2025. 

           The Operating Engineers represents nearly 400,000 heavy machinery operators on construction and industrial sites throughout the United States and Canada. From 2011 to the present, Callahan has served as General President of the Operating Engineers at its headquarters in Washington, D.C.

           In pleading guilty, Callahan admitted that he filed LM-30 reports that omitted his receipt of goods and services from an advertising firm that Callahan and the Union used to place ads. From 2015 through 2023, Callahan requested from the advertising firm and received free tickets to nearly 100 sports, concert, and theater events, as well as hospitality packages associated with those events. Those tickets and amenities were worth at least $315,000 and properly belonged to the Operating Engineers. Callahan did not reveal the existence of those tickets and did not obtain authorization from the Union’s Executive Board to use them. Callahan used many of those tickets personally and provided other tickets to members of his family and persons who were not members of the Operating Engineers. 

           As a condition of his plea, Callahan agreed to repay the Operating Engineers $315,000 for the tickets and resign as General President immediately.

          The United States Department of Labor (DOL), Office of Labor Management Standards and DOL-Office of Inspector General, are investigating the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Brian Kelly and Trial Attorney Vincent Falvo of the Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering section are prosecuting the case.

##

24cr555 

WASHINGTON – Jaron Johnson, 23, of Washington D.C., was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 60 months in federal prison in connection with selling a fatal dose of fentanyl in May 2022 to an American soldier. The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr., DEA Acting Special Agent in Charge Ibrar A. Mian of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Washington Division, and Special Agent in Charge Jake Cameron of the Washington Field Office, Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division.

           Johnson pleaded guilty on August 17, 2024, to unlawful distribution of fentanyl. In addition to the five-year prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Christopher R. Cooper ordered Johnson to serve three years of supervised release. 

           According to court documents, Johnson distributed what he knew to contain fentanyl to a U.S. Army private. Approximately 14 hours after the sale, the soldier died. The cause of death was determined to be a mixture of fentanyl, dextromethorphan (cough medicine), and chlorpheniramine (allergy medicine), with an enlarged heart as a contributing factor. However, toxicology results revealed standard doses of dextromethorphan and chlorpheniramine, which are not typically fatal. 

           When the soldier’s phone was searched, investigators found a text message conversation between the soldier and a phone number which was linked to Johnson. The messages show that the soldier discussed meeting with Johnson to purchase “blues” and “30s,” which is often slang for pills containing fentanyl. On May 23, 2022, Johnson sent a message to the soldier which included a picture of a hand holding a bag of light blue pills. The soldier died on May 26, 2022.

           On May 25, 2023, Johnson was arrested at an airport in Baltimore upon his return from California. A search of his checked luggage revealed he had been carrying approximately 33 pounds of suspected marijuana.

           This case was investigated by the DEA’s Washington Division and Army’s Criminal Investigation Division. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Solomon Eppel of the Violence Reduction and Traffic Offenses Section (VRTO), with valuable assistance provided by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alicia Long and Will Hart, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

23cr157

WASHINGTON – Brennan Holloman, 26, of Washington D.C., was sentenced in U.S. District Court today to 51 months in prison for illegally possessing a loaded “ghost gun” despite being previously been convicted of a felony offense. The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr. and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department.

            Holloman pleaded guilty September 25, 2024, to one count of being a felon in possession of ammunition. In addition to the 51-month prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Christopher R. Cooper ordered Holloman to serve two years of supervised release.

            According to court documents, on October 11, 2023, members of the Metropolitan Police Department’s Fifth District Crime Suppression team in a police cruiser were patrolling the 1500 block of Maryland Avenue Northeast in Washington, D.C. They observed a group standing at the top of the stairs in front of a building on the 1500 block of Maryland Avenue, Northeast. When the officers approached, they noticed a member of the group with a handgun in his pants. The officers recovered a loaded 9-millimeter black and grey Polymer80 privately made firearm. The Polymer80 was not marked with a serial number. It was loaded with one round in its chamber and seventeen rounds of 9-millimeter ammunition in its extended magazine.

            On December 15, 2023, Holloman was arrested for his October 11, 2023, possession of the ghost gun firearm and ammunition. As law enforcement made the arrest, they discovered Holloman was in possession of a Bryco .38 caliber firearm loaded with one round in its chamber and three rounds of ammunition in its magazine.         

            Holloman previously had been convicted of crimes punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year, including a September 4, 2018, conviction in Superior Court. In that case, Holloman was sentenced to a term of 18 months in prison, with all but 9 months suspended. When Holloman possessed loaded firearms on October 11, 2023, and December 15, 2023, he knew that he previously had been convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term longer than one year.

            This case was investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul V. Courtney.

23cr0407

WASHINGTON — Damian Johnson, 24, of Washington D.C., was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 21 months in federal prison for illegal possession of a Glock 27 and 61 rounds of 45 caliber ammunition. Johnson was on supervised release when he posted numerous photographs of himself to Instagram with his guns that included several of himself wearing an ankle monitor while holding one of his weapons.

            The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr., of the District of Columbia and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Johnson, aka “Damien Johnson,” pleaded guilty September 11, 2024, to unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon. The 21-month federal prison term will run consecutive to a 16-month sentence he received in Superior Court in October 2022 for carrying a pistol without a license. U.S. District Court Judge Jia M. Cobb also ordered Johnson to serve three years of supervised release.

            According to court documents, on December 26, 2023, shortly after 8 p.m., members of the MPD Robbery Suppression Unit executed a search warrant at Johnson’s home on the 300 block of Raleigh Street, SE. As officers entered the residence, an investigator observed Johnson attempting to open the apartment’s rear window. Another officer watched as Johnson tossed an object behind a bed inside a bedroom. The officers found a black Glock 27 .40 caliber pistol handgun behind the bed in plain view. During a search of the premises that followed, inside a closet, investigators discovered a drum magazine with 33 rounds of ammunition and an extended magazine with 28 rounds of ammunition.

            Prior to the search, officers had viewed Johnson’s Instagram account and had seen photos and video clips that showed eight different firearms inside Johnson’s apartment. One of the photos depicted Johnson wearing his court-ordered ankle GPS devise on his right ankle as he held one of his handguns.

            A federal Grand Jury indicted Johnson on January 17, 2024. U.S. Marshals arrested him on January 23, 2024, in Washington D.C.

            This case was investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department and the ATF. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Emory Cole for the District of Columbia.

The Glock 27 .40 caliber pistol and ammunition found in Johnson’s apartment. 

Drum magazine loaded with 33 rounds of 45 caliber ammunition.

Johnson (at left) and a friend display cash and four firearms – some with extended clips - in an Instagram post.

In an Instagram post, Johnson is pictured with a firearm with an extended clip.

In an Instagram post, Johnson and a pregnant woman are depicted holding firearms with extended clips, scopes/lights on firearms. Johnson is seen with court ordered GPS device on his right ankle.

24cr032

WASHINGTON – Idris Ahmad, 53, of Maryland, pleaded guilty in DC Superior Court yesterday to two counts of second-degree fraud and two counts of second-degree theft for submitting fraudulent timesheets to the D.C. Department of Health (DOH) and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr. for the District of Columbia, and District of Columbia Inspector General Daniel W. Lucas.

            The Honorable Robert R. Rigsby accepted Ahmad’s guilty plea and scheduled sentencing for February 11, 2025.

            According to court documents, Ahmad accepted a job in 2017 as a pest control supervisor with DOH while maintaining a second job with DoD as a pest controller on a night shift at the Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling (JBAB). However, when he was later moved to a day shift at JBAB, he continued working for both employers despite his new shift substantially overlapping with his daily shift at DOH. Ahmad admitted in court that beginning in September of 2020, and continuing through June of 2021, he submitted timesheets to both employers for substantially identical hours and lied to both employers about this double-billing in order to keep collecting paychecks from each one.

            This case was investigated by the D.C. Office of the Inspector General, with assistance from the U.S. Department of Defense. The case was prosecuted by the late Special Assistant United States Attorney Bayly Leighton, Special Assistant United States Attorney Micah Bluming, and Assistant United States Attorneys Caroline Huether and Anna Forgie.

            WASHINGTON –Abubakr Banire, 27, of Washington D.C, was sentenced today to 111 months in prison for leading the “LA Dank DMV Crew,” a sophisticated drug trafficking conspiracy that was responsible for bringing hundreds of pounds of high-grade marijuana from California to the metropolitan area, announced U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr., and FBI Special Agent in Charge Sean Ryan of the Washington Field Office’s Criminal and Cyber Division.

            Banire, aka “Swave,” pleaded guilty on September 29, 2023, to conspiracy to distribute marijuana; unlawful possession of a machine gun; unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon; and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense.

            In addition to the 111-month prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ordered Banire to serve three years of supervised release. As part of Banire’s guilty plea, he admitted to operating as a leader of the drug distribution conspiracy.

           As part of their distribution scheme, members of the crew relied heavily on mass marketing through three dedicated LA Dank websites, as well as social media platforms like Instagram where individual crew members would advertise the LA Dank brand and LA Dank branded marijuana for sale. Crew members also used rental properties to set up stash houses or points of sale that were used to conduct drug distribution operations for a short period of time before moving on to different locations. 

           The crew is known, and was found to possess numerous firearms, including semi-automatic and fully automatic machine guns, and devices used to convert semi-automatic firearms into fully automatic machine guns. Certain members of the crew also plead guilty to the possession of firearms in furtherance of their drug trafficking operations. In total, approximately 122 pounds of marijuana, 19 firearms, and 10 machine gun conversion devices were recovered.  Three of these nineteen firearms were discovered to be operational machine guns that had been modified with machinegun conversion devices. Seven of these machine gun conversion devices were found in an “LA Dank” branded bag. Two of these firearms were privately made AR-pistol style machine guns, sometimes referred to as “ghost guns.”

           Ledgers and receipts show that the crew trafficked well over 100 kilograms of marijuana into the DMV area for distribution.

           This case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, in partnership with the Metropolitan Police Department, Prince George’s County Police Department, and Anne Arundel County Police Department.

LA DANK DMV

Defendant

Sentence

            This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Justin F. Song and Meredith E. Mayer-Dempsey of the Federal Major Crimes Section and Thomas Strong of the Violence Reduction and Trafficking Offenses Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

22cr83

WASHINGTON - On January 20, 2025, just minutes after Donald J. Trump was sworn in as the 47th President of the United States, Edward R. Martin, Jr. was appointed and sworn in as Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. 

            “I want to thank President Donald Trump for trusting me to help him re-establish law and order in Washington, D.C.,” said U.S. Attorney Martin “It is the honor of my lifetime to accept his nomination as Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. I pledge to work as hard as he does for America, even though no one outworks him. I want to thank my wife and family for carrying me to this day, and I pray to the Lord Jesus Christ for the continued wisdom and courage I have always found in Him.”

            Martin was raised in rural New Jersey before attending high school in Jersey City. He graduated from the College of the Holy Cross with a degree in English and a minor in Peace and Conflict Studies. After college, he served as a Thomas Watson Fellow in Indonesia and spent two years as a Rotary Scholar in Rome while studying at the Gregorian Pontifical University from which he earned a Bachelor of Philosophy.  

            Following his studies overseas, Martin moved to St. Louis, Missouri where he earned degrees in law and ethics from St. Louis University. Immediately after law school, Martin became the Human Rights Office Director for the Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis where he supervised legal clinics for low-income St. Louisans. He served as a judicial clerk to Hon. Pasco M. Bowman, II of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals and later worked as an associate with Bryan Cave LLP in their Washington D.C. and St. Louis offices.

            For the past two decades, Martin has maintained his own law practice while engaging in public service, including serving as Chairman of the St. Louis Board of Election Commissioners, Chief of Staff to Missouri Governor Matt Blunt, and in senior positions at the Eagle Forum Education and Legal Defense Fund, including succeeding the late Phyllis Schlafly as President. Martin was Chairman of the Missouri Republican Party, member of the Republican National Committee, and previously ran for elected office in Missouri.

            Martin and his wife, an internal medicine physician specializing in geriatrics, have four children. 

Please find below a statement from U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr. regarding an order from U.S. District Judge Mehta to amend the conditions of release in case number 1:22-cr-15 (USA v. RHODES, III et al)

"If a judge decided that Jim Biden, General Mark Milley, or another individual were forbidden to visit America’s capital—even after receiving a last-minute, preemptive pardon from the former President—I believe most Americans would object. The individuals referenced in our motion have had their sentences commuted – period, end of sentence.” 

-U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Edward R. Martin, Jr. 

Attached, please find the United States' motion to vacate supervised release and probation in this matter. 

WASHINGTON – Robbie Terrell Clark, 27, of Washington D.C., was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 108 months in federal prison for his role in the September 2022 kidnapping and robbery of a pair of victims in Alexandria, Virginia. 

           The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr., for the District of Columbia and FBI Special Agent in Charge Sean Ryan of the Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division. 

           Clark pleaded guilty on May 21, 2024, before U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, to one count of conspiracy to commit kidnapping. In addition to the 108-month prison-term, Judge Berman Jackson ordered Clark to serve four years of supervised release. 

           According to court documents, Clark and his co-conspirators stalked their intended victims before kidnapping and robbing them at gunpoint inside their Alexandria, Virginia apartment building. On September 2, 2022, the co-conspirators planted a GPS tracking device on one of the victim’s Mercedes, which they used to monitor the victims’ locations.  

           On September 3, 2022, the victims attended a family gathering in Maryland. Seizing the opportunity to catch their victims unaware, Clark and his co-conspirators traveled from Washington, D.C. to Virginia in a stolen white Kia and to the victim’s home, where they laid in wait, armed with guns and carrying zip ties. Clark and his co-conspirators were wearing dark clothing, masks, and latex gloves.

           When the victims returned home later that night, Clark and his co-conspirators ambushed them in their parking garage at gunpoint, stealing two Audemars Piguet watches worth $120,000, another $63,500 worth of jewelry, other clothing, and the keys to a victim’s Mercedes.

           After robbing them, and pistol-whipping them with their guns, Clark and the co-conspirators led the victim couple to one of the victim’s apartments. Inside, the co-conspirators continued to hold the victims at gunpoint and ransacked the residence, demanding money. The co-conspirators were unable to locate any money before a security alarm was triggered and the co-conspirators fled, leaving behind several plastic zip ties. 

           Clark and his co-conspirators fled the apartment building shortly before 2 a.m. on September 4, 2022, in the stolen white Kia and the victims’ Mercedes and returned to the District. Law enforcement found the stolen Mercedes hours later in Maryland with the GPS tracking device still attached. Following a lengthy investigation, Clark was identified as a participant and arrested on August 16, 2023, in Washington, D.C. He has been held since.

           At the time of the incident, Clark had a felony conviction in Maryland for possessing a handgun in a vehicle. 

           Clark’s co-conspirator, Tyree McCombs, pleaded guilty on August 14, 2024, to conspiracy to interfere with interstate commerce by robbery in connection with this offense as well as to a separate kidnapping committed two months later. McCombs is awaiting sentencing.

           This case was investigated by FBI Washington Field Office's Violent Crimes Task Force. The Fairfax County Police Department assisted with the investigation. The matter is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Meredith Mayer-Dempsey and Charles R. Jones for the District of Columbia.

22cr377

WASHINGTON – Wyatt Swan, 48, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty today to second-degree murder while armed for the 2024 murder of Teresa Francisco, 52, in Northeast Washington, announced U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr. and Chief Pamela Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            The Honorable Jason Park of the D.C. Superior Court scheduled sentencing for March 21, 2025.

            According to the government’s evidence, at approximately 1:00 p.m., on October 1, 2024, the defendant shot and killed his wife, Teresa Francisco, in and around their apartment complex in the 900 block of Eastern Avenue, Northeast. The defendant first shot his wife with a pistol in their shared apartment. When she ran for her life and hid in a nearby work van, the defendant pursued her and fired numerous shots into the van killing her.  The defendant then fled the scene evading police.

            The defendant was arrested on October 2, 2024, with the assistance of the Prince George's County Police Department. The defendant has remained in custody since his arrest.

            In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Edward Martin Jr. and Chief Smith commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department and expressed appreciation for the assistance provided by the Prince George's County Police Department.  This case was investigated and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Evans.

WASHINGTON – Aldemar Soto-Charry, 64, a highly ranked member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 78 months in federal prison for conspiring to distribute thousands of kilos of cocaine for importation into the United States. The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr. for the District of Columbia, DEA Special Agent in Charge Eugene L. Crouch of the DEA Andean Division, and FBI Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Veltri of the FBI’s Miami Field Office.

            Soto-Charry, aka “El Ingeniero” (“the Engineer”), pleaded guilty on October 11, 2024, to conspiracy to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine for importation into the United States and aiding and abetting in the same. As part of the plea agreement, Soto-Charry acknowledged he was accountable for engaging in a conspiracy on behalf of the FARC to transport over 1,000 kilos of cocaine on a regular basis to a Mexican cartel, ultimately knowing that the cocaine would be transported into the United States.

            In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Amit P. Mehta ordered Soto-Charry to serve four years of supervised release.

            According to court documents, in 2018 the DEA commenced a targeted operation against large-scale drug traffickers in Colombia, including those connected to the FARC. In July 2018,  the DEA learned that Soto-Charry had claimed that FARC leadership was exploring opportunities to launder proceeds of drug sales, including through the purchase of real estate in Panama. The DEA enlisted confidential sources (CS) to meet with Soto-Charry and his co-conspirators.

            In October 2018, Soto-Charry was introduced to the CSs, one who posed as an individual with business connections in Panama and the other as a facilitator for large-scale drug transactions with the Mexican Gulf Cartel, which sought thousands of kilograms of cocaine for exportation abroad, including the United States. Soto-Charry detailed the FARC’s illicit business ventures, including laundering $10 million of cocaine proceeds through the construction of a medical clinic in Panama. Soto-Charry said he could organize drug deals using cocaine that was being processed at FARC-controlled cocaine laboratories in the jungles of Colombia. During a later meeting, Soto-Charry said the FARC could provide up to 2,000 kilograms of cocaine every few weeks.

            Between October 3, 2018, and July 25, 2019, the CSs regularly met with Soto-Charry and his co-conspirators to discuss the details of a potential deal for significant quantities of cocaine. During the meetings, Soto-Charry discussed FARC-related drug trafficking activities, cocaine pricing, cocaine purity, drug trafficking routes out of Colombia, and other logistical matters related to large-scale cocaine sales. As part of these discussions, Soto-Charry’s co-conspirators ultimately helped deliver a five-kilogram sample of cocaine and discussed how to transport it to the United States.

            Soto-Charry was arrested in Colombia on August 8, 2019, at the request of the United States, and extradited to the United States on August 8, 2024. In his plea agreement, he accepted responsibility for conspiring to distribute 1,000 kilograms or more of cocaine. He has been in custody since the date of his arrest in Colombia.

            His co-defendant Mauricio Mazabel-Soto was sentenced to 73 months in prison. Co-defendant Alfredo Molina-Cutiva received a sentence of 70 months in prison.

            This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI. The Colombian Attorney General’s Office, specifically the Dirección Especializada contra el Narcotráfico and Dirección de Asuntos Internacionales, also provided valuable assistance. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section’s Office of the Judicial Attaché in Bogotá, Colombia provided significant assistance in securing the arrest and extradition of Soto-Charry. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Iris McCranie and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Ernesto J. Alvarado of the Violence Reduction and Trafficking Offenses (VRTO) Section. Valuable assistance was also provided by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin L. Rosenberg, who indicted and previously handled the case.

19cr233

WASHINGTON – Jose Angel Gomez, 42, formerly of Washington D.C., pleaded guilty to one count of first degree sexual abuse while armed, one count of first degree sexual abuse, one count of attempt first degree sexual abuse, and one count of assault with a dangerous weapon for three rapes between July and October 2018 involving three different victims who were strangers to him, announced U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr. and Chief Pamela Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). The defendant faces a period of incarceration of between 25 ½ and 35 years as part of the plea agreement if accepted by the Honorable Todd Edelman of the Superior Court for the District of Columbia. Judge Edelman scheduled sentencing for April 4, 2025.

            The defendant admitted to the following facts related to each crime. On July 15, 2018, the 22-year-old victim returned home from a night out at approximately 2:40 AM. Shortly thereafter, she heard a knock at her basement door. Shortly after the victim opened the door, the defendant, Jose Gomez, grabbed and forced her to the ground. He brandished a knife and forcibly penetrated the victim’s vulva with his penis. Unable to obtain an erection, the defendant put his mouth on the victim’s vulva and ordered her to be quiet. The defendant cut the victim’s left cheek with the knife. Ultimately, the victim escaped to the safety of her home after kicking the defendant. She ran up the stairs where she called 911.

            On September 7, 2018, at approximately 11:40 PM, the defendant, Jose Gomez, followed his second victim, who was 37 years old at the time, as she walked from the Fort Totten Metro station to the nearby 7-11 at 5210 3rd Street, Northeast. He followed the victim into the 7-11. He then followed her after she left the 7-11. Once in the area of the 100 block of Farragut Street, Northeast, a wooded access road for Metro, the defendant grabbed the victim, pulled her into a wooded area, brandished a knife, and ordered her to take off her pants. With a knife to her throat and one hand around her neck, the defendant removed the victim’s pants and forcibly penetrated her vulva with his penis. The defendant told the victim, “Shut up, b*tch, and have sex with me!” During the rape, the victim’s phone rang numerous times. The victim told the defendant it was her brother who would come looking for her if she did not answer. The defendant jumped up and fled giving victim the opportunity to get away and flag down police. 

           On October 21, 2018, at approximately 6:30 AM, the defendant’s third victim was waiting at the corner of 7th and Longfellow Streets, Northwest for an Uber to work. It was early and the area was largely deserted. As the victim waited alone, the defendant, Jose Gomez, approached and asked her if she was ok and what she was doing. The victim told him she was waiting for an Uber. The defendant continued to speak to the victim, who told him to leave her alone. The defendant continued to linger in the area. As the victim continued to stand on the corner and saw on the Uber App that that her car was getting further away, she began to feel unsafe and started to walk back towards her apartment building. The defendant followed her.  The victim told him to stop. The defendant grabbed her by the throat and squeezed. The victim could not breath. The defendant began saying vulgar things. He dragged the victim into the alley, forced her to the ground, and removed her pants. He put his mouth on her vulva, penetrated her vulva with his finger and objects including a pen and keys, and penetrated her vulva with his penis. Every time the victim tried to move the defendant squeezed her neck. When the victim began to cry, the defendant told her to “shut the f*ck up.” Once the defendant ejaculated, he got up and while laughing stated, “I will see you around!” The defendant then fled on foot.

            These violent sexual assaults were solved with a combination of DNA and other evidence. Once identified, Gomez was arrested in Louisville, Kentucky on June 7, 2023 and transported by law enforcement to Washington, D.C. The defendant has been incarcerated ever since.

            This case was investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department, including the Sexual Assault Unit and the Cold Case Unit of the Sexual Assault Unit, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Marco Crocetti, Sharon Donovan, and Amy Zubrensky.

            This case was brought as part of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Cold Case Sexual Assault Initiative. In February 2018, the U.S. Attorney created the Cold Case Sexual Assault Initiative, designed to work with law enforcement partners to reinvestigate, solve and bring charges in previously-unsolved cases of sexual assault of adults and juveniles. The Cold Case Initiative works with the Metropolitan Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the United States Marshal’s Service, and state and local law enforcement agencies in the DMV area and nationwide. 

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WASHINGTON – Husan Thurston, 32, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced to two years in prison and Alton Pernell, 28, also of Washington, D.C., was sentenced to two years in prison, with six months suspended, yesterday, for the burglary of a Gucci store in Northwest D.C. on September, 9, 2024, announced U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr. and Chief Pamela Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            On January 22, 2025, the Honorable Judge Andrea Hertzfeld sentenced Husan Thurston to 24 months’ incarceration followed by three years of supervised release, and Alton Pernell to 24 months’ incarceration, with six months suspended, followed by three years of supervised release suspended and one year of supervised probation. Pernell and Thurston pleaded guilty on November 19, 2024, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to second-degree burglary.

            According to the government’s evidence, at approximately 11:00 p.m., on September 9, 2024, law enforcement officers observed a large group of individuals attempting to force entry into the Gucci store, located at the 1000 block of I Street, NW, while it was closed for business. Surveillance camera footage from inside of the Gucci store showed the defendants kicking the store’s doors and forcing their way inside. Both defendants were also captured on the store’s surveillance camera, running inside the store and grabbing handbags off of the display stands. One of the officers approached the front entrance of the store and then observed Thurston and Pernell inside. When officers entered the store and approached Pernell and Thurston, both men attempted to the flee but were prevented by the incoming officer. Both defendants fled to the rear of the store, where they were apprehended.

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Martin and Chief Smith commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. They also acknowledged the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Hannah Skopicki and Elizabeth Ginsburg, who prosecuted the case. 

WASHINGTON – Avante Greene, 23, of Washington, D.C. was sentenced today to 60 months in prison for three brazen burglaries he committed at Lululemon stores in July 2024, announced U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr. and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). 

           In addition to the prison term, Superior Court Judge Andrea Hertzfeld, also ordered one year of supervised probation. Greene pleaded guilty on October 31, 2024, to three counts of attempted second degree burglary. 

           According to the government’s evidence, on July 10, 2024, Avante Greene walked into the Lululemon store located on F Street, NW, carrying a large empty bag that he proceeded to fill with merchandise and fled in a nearby getaway car. Two days later, Greene brought two unidentified co-conspirators with him to the Lululemon store in Georgetown, again carrying empty bags that he proceeded to fill with merchandise and flee the store. Greene continued his spree on July 16, 2024, when he returned to the Lululemon store on F Street NW, with one unidentified co-conspirator. He repeated his practice of filling empty bags with merchandise and fleeing the store in a getaway car. In total, Greene stole well over $10,000 in merchandise.

           Greene was arrested on July 19, 2024, while driving the getaway vehicle. He has been in custody ever since.

           In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr. and Chief Smith commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. They also expressed appreciation for the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorney Katelyn Benton who investigated and prosecuted the case.

WASHINGTON – Idrissa Fall, 37, of Washington, D.C., has been found guilty by a jury of first-degree murder while armed and related charges stemming from an early morning shooting on July 18, 2021, in the 6100 block of 4th Street, NW, announced U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr. and Pamela A. Smith, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            The jury rendered a verdict on January 22, 2025, following a trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The jury unanimously convicted Fall of first-degree premeditated murder while armed, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, and unlawful possession of a firearm. The Honorable Rainey Brandt scheduled sentencing for March 19, 2025.

            According to the government’s evidence, just before 1:30 a.m. on July 18, 2021, the victim, Dara Northern, walked out of her home and headed towards her best friend’s car for a night on the town. When Northern left her home, the defendant followed her out of her house and tried to stop her. Northern had recently broken up with the defendant and kicked him out of her home. As Northern got into the front seat of her friend’s waiting vehicle, the defendant started reaching for his waistband.  As Northern close the door, the defendant shot her in the head as she sat next to her best friend and fled the scene. Northern suffered one gunshot wound to her right eye. The victim was declared brain dead that same day and died as a result of her injuries. 

            Fall was arrested for Northern’s murder on August 2, 2021. He has been in custody ever since.

            In announcing the verdict, U.S. Attorney Martin and Chief Smith commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. They also expressed appreciation for the assistance provided by the U.S. Marshals Service. They acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including; Investigative Analyst Zachary McMenamin; Victim/Witness Advocate Jennifer Allen and Latrice Washington-Williams; Paralegal Specialists Alyssa Schroeder and Sharon Newman; and Litigation Technology Specialist Sigourney Jackson.

            Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kristian L. Hinson and Yasmin Emrani, who prosecuted the case.

WASHINGTON – Cesar De La O Rodriguez, 21, a citizen of El Salvador and a member of the violent transnational criminal street gang known as 18th Street, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 40 years in federal prison in connection with the 2021 stalking and killing of an individual he suspected was a rival international gang member in Rockville, Maryland, a slaying committed to increase his standing in the 18th Street gang.

           The sentencing was announced by U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr., for the District of Columbia, and FBI Special Agent in Charge Sean Ryan of the Washington Field Office, Criminal and Cyber Division.

           Rodriguez, aka “Lunatico,” pleaded guilty on February 9, 2024, to conspiring to participate in a racketeer influenced and corrupt organization (RICO Conspiracy) and conspiracy to commit violent crime in aid of racketeering-murder. 

           Days after making his plea, on February 18, Rodriguez participated in the jail house stabbing of a fellow inmate at the Northern Neck Regional Jail in Warsaw, Virginia. Rodriguez is facing additional charges in connection with the stabbing of attempted murder, malicious wounding resulting in significant physical impairment. 

           In addition to the 40-year prison sentence, Rodriguez also will face deportation hearings at the completion of his sentence.

           The 18th Street gang engages in a variety of criminal activities to include acts of assault, robbery, kidnapping, murder, and firearms trafficking in the District of Columbia and other jurisdictions, both within United States and in foreign countries. 18th Street members are required to commit acts of violence to further the interests of the gang. These violent acts are often directed against rival gang members, 18th Street members who have violated gang rules or have otherwise disrespected the gang, and people who are suspected of cooperating with law enforcement.

           According to court documents, on December 19, 2021, at the command of a senior member of 18th Street, Rodriguez and co-defendants followed the victim, Danis Alcides Salgado Mata, to Mata’s home on the 13700 block of Ashby Road in Rockville, Maryland. Rodriguez and his co-defendants believed that Mata was a member of the international gang MS-13.

           Upon arriving at Mata’s home, Rodriguez and another 18th Street member fired multiple gunshots at Mata, striking him multiple times in the torso. Mata eventually died from his injuries. During the shooting, Mata’s mother and stepfather were also struck by gunfire, but survived their injuries. Rodriguez and the other 18th Street gang member fled the scene and into the District of Columbia. 

           At the time of the shooting, the Rodriguez was a low-ranking member of the 18th Street gang and was ultimately promoted to a full-fledged member or “homeboy.”

           This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

           This case was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office, the Montgomery County Police Department, United States Marshals Service, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

           This investigation is part of the Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking (HIDTA) Northern Virginia Gang Initiative, which seeks to identify, disrupt, and dismantle drug trafficking organizations and money laundering organizations; reduce drug-related crime and violence; and identify and respond to emerging drug trends.

           The matter is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys John Korba, Sitara Witanachchi, and William Hart.

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WASHINGTON – Niko Hall, 33, of Washington, DC, was sentenced today to 14 years in prison for second degree murder while armed for shooting and killing a man on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Bridget Fitzpatrick and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). 

           Hall pleaded guilty on November 11, 2024, before Superior Court Judge Rainey Brandt who, in addition to the prison time, ordered five years of supervised release.

            Hall is the final defendant to be sentenced for the crime. Co-defendants Kyrie Wells and  Darquise Montgomery also pleaded guilty, on January 3, 2023, and July 6, 2023, respectively, to second degree murder while armed. Wells was sentenced to 14 years in prison; Montgomery was sentenced to 12 years of in prison.

           According to the government’s evidence, on Saturday, September 26, 2020, the three defendants murdered Anthony Lee, 25, by shooting him in the back as Mr. Lee walked away from them, apparently unaware of the danger he was in. At around 11:22 p.m., as Mr. Lee and a companion walked south on Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue, Hall came out of the Mellon Market with his handgun drawn and joined the two other men. The three of them lined up across the sidewalk, after one of them cleared potential witnesses out of the way. The gunmen then opened fire on Mr. Lee and his companion from behind. There had been no interaction between the victims and their assailants before the shooting and the victims were unarmed. Hall was the first to begin shooting and the last to stop. He opened fire on a busy street, with multiple witnesses present, in front of busy Saturday commercial traffic.

            After Mr. Lee was shot, he fell to the ground one of the co-defendants, apparently acting in concert with the defendant and armed with an assault rifle, opened fire on Mr. Lee’s companion, firing at least 13 times.

            The defendant was arrested almost exactly a month later, on October 20, 2020, and has been in custody ever since. 

            In announcing the sentence, Acting U.S. Attorney Fitzpatrick and Chief Smith commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. They also expressed appreciation for the efforts of those who handled the case at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialists LaShone Samuels and Stephanie Siegerist and Victim/Witness Advocates Latrice Washington-Williams and Jenn Allen. Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jessica Keefer and Thomas Faulkner who prosecuted the case, and U.S. Attorney Peter V. Roman and Deputy Chief Laura Bach, who investigated and prosecuted the case.

WASHINGTON – Khali Ahmed Brown, 23, and Keion Michael Brown, 21, brothers from Washington D.C. and members of the violent Kennedy Street Crew (KDY), were sentenced today for their roles in a massive drug trafficking organization that operated open-air markets in Northwest Washington D.C.

            Khali Brown, aka rapper “Migo Lee,” pleaded guilty on September 20, 2024, to conspiracy to distribute 100 kilograms or more of marijuana, fentanyl, and oxycodone. He also pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense and to assault with a dangerous weapon. U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell today sentenced Khali Brown to 168 months in federal prison and ordered him to serve five years of supervised release.

            Keion Brown, pleaded guilty on September 20, 2024, to conspiracy to distribute 100 kilograms or more of marijuana and oxycodone and to possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Judge Howell sentenced Keion Brown today to 147 months in federal prison and ordered him to serve five years of supervised release. 

           The sentences were announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, FBI Special Agent in Charge Sean Ryan of the Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division, DEA Special Agent in Charge Jarod Forget of the Washington Division, ATF Special Agent in Charge Anthony Spotswood of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives – Washington Field Division, and Special Agent in Charge Kareem Carter, of the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Washington D.C. Field Office.

            According to court documents, KDY members operated open-air drug markets on an 11-block stretch of Kennedy Street in Northwest Washington, D.C., as well as surrounding streets. Like many drug trafficking organizations (DTOs), KDY armed itself with fire power to facilitate the drug trade and defend its territory from rival crews.

            As Migo Lee, Khali Brown served as the leading public face for the Kennedy Street Crew, functioning as a driver of escalating crew-related violence through beefs incited through his social media activity and music videos. The music videos put a finer point on the dangerousness he presents. Generally, in his videos, Khali Brown glorified violence, referring to himself by the tagline used among KDY crew members, “young and violent”, and/or characterizing himself as part of “Seal Team 6” or “ST6”, evoking militaristic tactics to eliminate the opposition. He is notorious for producing “diss” music videos taunting rival crew members, including those who have been murdered.

            In addition, by Khali Brown’s admission, he is accountable for trafficking no greater than 40 grams of fentanyl; no greater than 125 grams of oxycodone; and more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana, but no more than 2,000 kilos of marijuana. The converted drug weight for these quantities of narcotics, under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, was at least 1,000 kilograms but no greater than 3,000 kilograms. Khali Brown’s role as a drug trafficker for KDY is further documented in a review of his social media activity, along with his travel patterns and encounters with law enforcement. Khali Brown regularly utilized Instagram to advertise his narcotics, most predominantly pills, for sale. Independent of the ads, Khali Brown also regularly boasted on social media about the spoils of his drug trafficking.

            Early in the morning of October 10, 2022, Prince Georges County police were called for a report of a shooting at a stash house in Bowie, Maryland that Khali Brown maintained. After executing a search warrant, law enforcement recovered three firearms, as well as numerous live rounds of ammunition, firearms accessories, and large capacity magazines. Overall, throughout the residence, officers found and seized nearly $47,000 in cash. In addition, law enforcement seized 103 pounds of marijuana stored in hardshell luggage; 66.2 grams of crack cocaine; and an aggregate of 106.4 grams of oxycodone pills and 79.6 grams of methamphetamine pills.

            Khali Brown, his brothers Keion and Miasiah, as well as co-conspirator Jovan Williams, lived in the Bowie, MD, house. Despite the Browns’ mother denying to police that anyone had been injured during the shooting, responding officers noticed multiple bullet holes in the living room window, blood on the living room floor, spent shell casings, and a trail of blood near the front door.

            Khali Brown’s social media activity led law enforcement to confirm another of his stash houses, this one on the 1700 block of D Street, NE. On the morning of January 26, 2023, DEA and ATF agents conducted an interdiction at Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI), where Khali Brown and several other KDY members were stopped as they returned on a redeye flight from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) smuggling bulk quantities of marijuana. At BWI, Khali Brown and codefendant Herman Signou managed to evade law enforcement, but surveilling ATF agents  followed their vehicle to the residence on D Street NE. MPD officers watched as the two men entered the house with two pieces of luggage. Law enforcement compared open-source photos of the interior of the house to the Instagram stories posted by Khali Brown, and noticed distinct characteristics of the living room that were also present in his Instagram ads.

            When officers entered the D Street home, they found Khali Brown along with two of his brothers and three other co-defendants. Scattered throughout the basement of the stash house officers found 10 loaded firearms, two of which were machine guns. Four of those firearms were found in a suitcase resembling one officers had seen Khali Brown had been seen with as he entered the house earlier in the day. The suitcase also contained bulk quantities of marijuana, 351 fentanyl-laced counterfeit oxycodone pills, and 50 oxycodone pills.

            Khali Brown’s DNA was included on two of the 10 firearms law enforcement recovered from the D Street residence: a Glock 17 9mm handgun with an obliterated serial number equipped with a machine gun conversion device that was used in the November 18, 2022, shooting at Jackson-Reed High School in Northwest D.C.; and a Glock 29 10 mm pistol equipped with an extended magazine. The DNA of Keion Brown, Khali’s brother and codefendant, was included on three firearms, including a Glock 45 9mm handgun equipped with an extended magazine. The Glock 4 was linked to two shootings on October 10, 2022, one in Takoma Park and another in Southeast Washington D.C.

            On June 26, 2023, Khali Brown was arrested with his co-defendants, Tristan “Greedy” Ware and Miasiah Brown, at a known stash house at Fifth and O Streets NW where both Khali and Miasiah Brown had been observed by law enforcement conducting narcotics transactions. Law enforcement was able to identify the apartment as being associated with Khali Brown based upon a music video he published shortly before his arrest. Agents found six loaded firearms concealed within the apartment, four of which were machine guns; a high-capacity drum magazine; nearly $3,000 in cash; and numerous bags containing about 3.5 kilograms of marijuana packaged for distribution.

            This investigation was conducted under the auspices of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

            This case was investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department, the DEA’s Washington Division, ATF’s Washington Field Division, with assistance from FBI’s Washington Field Office, and the IRS-Criminal Investigation Washington, D.C. Office.

            The matter is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Matthew W. Kinskey and Sitara Witanachchi, of the of the Violence Reduction and Trafficking Offenses Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. 

DEFENDANTS

NAME

AGE

CHARGES/SENTENCES

            Defendant Cameron Reid is from Falmouth, VA; all remaining defendants are from Washington, D.C.

Examples of Khali Brown’s public advertisements of narcotics, in the form of Instagram Stories.

Khali Brown also boasted of his drug trafficking earnings on social media, as seen in these postings to Instagram.

Khali Brown also regularly posted photographs of his drug inventory.

Khali Brown maintained a stash house in Bowie, Maryland. Secreted within the walls in his sleeping area was a separate hardshell suitcase, containing various drum magazines, a pistol conversion kit to convert a handgun into a short barrel rifle, additional opioids, and a digital scale.

Law enforcement executed a search warrant at Khali Brown’s stash house in Bowie, MD, and seized over 100 pounds of marijuana in hardshell suitcases.

The weapons, narcotics, and cash seized on Oct. 10, 2022, at Khali Brown’s stash house in Bowie, MD.

Law enforcement seized 10 firearms, including two machine guns, marijuana, and assorted narcotics on January 23, 2023, at Khali Brown’s stash house on the 1700 block of D Street, NE.

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WASHINGTON – Vernon Parrish, 41, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 40 years in prison for first-degree murder while armed and related charges for the September 26, 2021 murder of his romantic rival, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Chief Pamela A. Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            A jury returned guilty verdicts on July 9, 2024, following a trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, for first-degree murder while armed, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, and unlawful possession of a firearm.

            According to the evidence, Parrish drove to the home of Ronald Bailey, in the 5200 block of E Street Southeast, Washington D.C., armed with a firearm. Parrish intended to kill Bailey because they were both involved in a romantic relationship with the same woman. Parrish sped down E Street, got out of his car in front of Mr. Bailey’s home, screamed for Mr. Bailey, and then fired multiple shots into Mr. Bailey’s house before fleeing the scene. Mr. Bailey was killed in the gunfire.

            Parrish was arrested on October 6, 2021.  He has been in custody ever since.

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Graves and Chief Smith commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department.  They also expressed appreciation for the assistance provided by the FBI Washington Field Office Cellular Analysis Survey Team. Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Bromwich, and former Assistant U.S. Attorneys Gregory Kimak and Alec Levy, who investigated and tried the case.

WASHINGTON – Sai Varshith Kandula, 20, of St. Louis, Missouri, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 96 months in federal prison for an attempted attack on the White House with a rented truck on May 22, 2023, an attack that aimed to overthrow the democratically elected government of the United States in order to replace it with a dictatorship fueled by Nazi ideology.

            The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, Special Agent in Charge William McCool of the U.S. Secret Service Washington Field Office, FBI Special Agent in Charge Sanjay Virmani of the FBI Washington Field Office’s Counterterrorism Division, Chief Jessica M. Taylor of the U.S. Park Police, and Chief Pamela A. Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Kandula pleaded guilty on May 13, 2024, to a charge of willful injury or depredation of property of the United States before U.S. District Court Judge Dabney L. Friedrich. Kandula is an Indian national who was born in Chandanagar, India. At the time of the incident, he was a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. with a green card. In addition to the prison term, Judge Friedrich ordered Kandula to serve three years of supervised release.

            According to court documents, Kandula flew on a commercial flight from St. Louis, Missouri, to Washington D.C. on the afternoon of May 22, 2023, connecting through another airport on a one-way airline ticket. Kandula arrived at Dulles International Airport about 5:20 p.m., and rented a truck at 6:30 p.m. He stopped for food and gas, and then drove to Washington, D.C., where he crashed into the barriers protecting White House and President’s Park at 9:35 p.m. at the intersection of H Street, Northwest and 16th Street, Northwest. Kandula drove onto the sidewalk, sending pedestrians running from the scene. After striking the barriers, the truck backed up in reverse, then lurched forward, striking the metal barriers a second time. The second impact disabled the truck which began smoking from the engine compartment and leaking fluids.

            Kandula next exited the vehicle and went to the back of the truck. From a backpack he removed a flag, a three-by-five foot red-and-white banner with a Nazi Swastika in the center, and brandished it. U.S. Park Police and the U.S. Secret Service officers arrested Kandula at the scene and took him into custody.

            According to the plea agreement, at the time Kandula crashed the truck into the White House perimeter, he was attempting to gain access to the White House to seize political power. Kandula’s intent was to replace the democratically elected government with a dictatorship fueled by ideology of Nazi Germany and for himself to be put in charge of the United States. Kandula admitted to investigators that he would have arranged for the killing of the U.S. President and others if necessary to achieve his objective. His actions were calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion.

            Kandula’s actions caused $4,322 in damage to the National Park Service. This amount included costs for repairing the metal bollard barriers to their original condition and ensuring structural soundness, oil and chemical removal, spill cleanup, and disposal of fluids from the crashed U-Haul. The damaged property was property of a department or agency of the United States, specifically the National Park Service, an agency of the United States federal government, within the U.S. Department of the Interior.

            Kandula planned the attack for several weeks. Prior to renting the truck and crashing it on White House grounds, he made several attempts to gain access to vehicles or armed security guards. For example, on April 22, 2023, Kandula requested 25 armed guards and an armored convoy from a security company located in Virginia. On May 4, 2023, Kandula attempted to contact several other companies in an attempt to rent a large commercial tractor-trailer truck, a dump truck, or another large truck. Kandula was unsuccessful in arraigning for security guards or a tractor-trailer truck or dump truck. Kandula had attempted to arrange for the services of these security guards and the use of large vehicles in order to carry out his offense against the U.S. Government.

            This case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service, the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the U.S. Park Police, and the MPD. It was prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Schneider and Assistant U.S. Attorney Shehzad Akhtar.

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WASHINGTON – Deangelo Wooten, 27, Jaleel Fowler, 26, and other co-conspirators were indicted today on a 57-count indictment filed in Superior Court, charging them as members of a conspiracy that have robbed, carjacked, and shot numerous individuals in the District of Columbia between December 2023 and March 2024, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            The indictment returned today charges Wooten and Fowler with conspiracy, multiple carjackings and armed robberies, multiple assaults with intent to kill, obstruction of justice, and other related charges stemming from a course of violent conduct committed throughout the city in late 2023 and early 2024.  The indictment details how the Defendants would use firearms to steal cars and rob individuals of their belongings during the commission of numerous offenses. The indictment charges three separate carjackings committed upon rideshare driver victims in December 2023 and January 2024, in addition to four separate shootings committed in the District from December 2023 through February 2024.

            In December 2024, the District of Columbia had 28 carjackings. The last month that had fewer carjackings was May of 2021.  The District has had 10 carjackings as of January 16, 2025.

            “Despite the massive reduction in carjacking incidents, this Office remains vigilant in aggressively pursuing and prosecuting those committing these crimes because one carjacking is too many,” said U.S. Attorney Graves. “As this indictment reflects, we will hold accountable those committing these crimes by thoroughly investigating and prosecuting these carjacking incidents.”

            This case is being investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).  It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mark Levy and Sara Matar of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

            An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia announced today that there is insufficient evidence to pursue federal criminal civil rights or District of Columbia charges against two Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Officers for their role in a September 1, 2024, fatal shooting of Justin Robinson, 25.

            The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the MPD’s Internal Affair’s Division conducted a comprehensive review of the incident. This included a review of physical evidence, surveillance video footage, body-worn camera footage, audio and visual recordings from nearby video cameras, witness accounts, autopsy records, and MPD reports.

            On September 1, 2024, at about 5:20 a.m., Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Officers received a radio run for a vehicle that had crashed into the side of the McDonald’s located at 2529 Marion Barry Avenue in Southeast D.C. MPD Officers and D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Service (DCFEMS) members responded to the scene and observed an unresponsive individual, later identified as Justin Robinson, sitting in the driver’s seat of the vehicle. Mr. Robinson had been sitting inside his car in the drive-thru of the McDonald’s, unresponsive, for around an hour before it moved forward and crashed into the building. When the MPD Officers arrived, they observed a firearm in plain view in Mr. Robinson’s lap.

            As the officers were devising a plan to remove the firearm from the vehicle, Mr. Robinson woke up, prompting multiple officers to scream at Mr. Robinson to put his hands up and not to touch the gun. As an MPD officer reached into the car and attempted to retrieve the gun from Mr. Robinson’s lap, a struggle ensued, during which Mr. Robinson refused to relinquish control of his own gun and grabbed the firearm of that MPD Officer. MPD officers instructed Mr. Robinson to take his hand off the gun. After this warning, as Mr. Robinson continued to struggle, two MPD officers discharged a total of 11 rounds from their service pistols at Mr. Robinson, striking him.

            After Mr. Robinson was struck by the MPD Officers’ discharged rounds, the officers safely removed Mr. Robinson’s firearm, removed Mr. Robinson from the vehicle, and immediately began resuscitation efforts. Although DCFEMS took over the life-saving efforts, Mr. Robinson was pronounced dead on the scene. 

            After a careful, thorough, and independent review of the evidence, federal prosecutors have found insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the MPD Officers were criminally liable for Mr. Robinson’s death.

            The U.S. Attorney’s Office remains committed to investigating allegations of excessive force by law enforcement officers and will continue to devote the resources necessary to ensure that all allegations of serious civil rights violations are investigated fully and completely. MPD’s Internal Affairs Division investigates all police-involved fatalities in the District of Columbia.

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WASHINGTON – Raymon Edward Dandridge, 40, of Harwood, Maryland, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 180 months in prison in connection with distributing videos depicting the violent rape of toddlers. The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves of the District of Columbia and FBI Special Agent in Charge Sean T. Ryan of the Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division.

           Dandridge pleaded guilty on April 10, 2024, to one count of distribution of child pornography. In addition to the 180-month prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth ordered Dandridge to serve 25 years of supervised release and pay restitution of $9,000. 

           Dandridge previously was convicted in August 2022 in Anne Arundel County for possessing child pornography, and, as a result, was required to register as a sex offender.

          According to court documents, on April 22, 2023, an undercover FBI Washington Field Office Task Force officer was monitoring a social media platform known to law enforcement as a place that people use to meet others who have an interest in incest, taboo, and child sex abuse material (CSAM). That day, the undercover officer received a private message from Raymon Dandridge using the screen name, “D4ALL.”

           During the chat with the undercover officer, in a private “secret” forum, Dandridge sent a video depicting an adult male forcibly raping a crying toddler. Two days later, on April 24, 2023, they discussed meeting up so that Dandridge could sexually abuse the undercover officer’s purported 8-year-old daughter. Dandridge also sent the undercover officer more than 20 videos depicting toddlers and infants being sexually abused by adult men. Dandridge later sent another 20 videos depicting prepubescent children, some as young as infants, being sexually abused by adults.

           On April 27, 2023, Dandridge agreed via text message to meet the undercover agent and his purported daughter to abuse the girl at a residence in Washington D.C. 

           Dandridge was arrested on April 28, 2023, when he arrived at the agreed-on meeting place. The FBI forensically analyzed Dandridge’s two cellular phones; one of them contained 3,400 images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children, while the other had an additional 100 images of child pornography.

           This case was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force in cooperation with the Metropolitan Police Department’s Youth Division. The task force is composed of FBI agents, along with other federal agents and detectives from northern Virginia and the District of Columbia. The task force is charged with investigating and bringing federal charges against individuals engaged in the exploitation of children and those engaged in human trafficking.

           The matter was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Karen Shinskie and Caroline Burrell and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Larson.

           This case was brought as part of the Department of Justice's Project Safe Childhood initiative. In February 2006, the Attorney General created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorney's Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

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           WASHINGTON –Erin Sheffey, 30, of Washington D.C., was sentenced today to 18 years in prison for his involvement in a series of armed robberies of Brinks armored cars in Washington, D.C. that resulted in the loss of more than $1.2 million. The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, FBI Special Agent in Charge Sean Ryan of the Washington Field Office’s Criminal and Cyber Division, and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

           Sheffey was found guilty by a jury on September 9, 2024, of conspiracy to interfere with interstate commerce by robbery. The jury also convicted co-defendants Brock and McNair of interference with interstate commerce by robbery (Hobbs Act Robbery), bank robbery, and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence. In addition to the 18-year prison sentence, U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth ordered Sheffey to serve three years of supervised release.

           The offenses related to three robberies of Brinks armored trucks that occurred on October 6, 2021, December 8, 2021, and March 2, 2022. In those robberies, the defendants used firearms to assault the drivers of Brinks armored cars and steal money. In total, the defendants stole over $1.2 million. 

             According to court documents and the evidence at trial, the three defendants were members of the Choppa City street crew. Brock, McNair, and Sheffey conspired together and with others to plan and carry out the robberies, brandishing firearms on D.C. city streets while doing so. Each robbery occurred on a Wednesday at about 9 a.m. in the morning and two occurred on busy city throughfares, causing a significant risk to the public. Testimony in the case revealed the conspirators used assault rifles to carry out their robberies. 

           Co-defendant Brock planned the robberies for months, learning the routes and arrival times of the Brinks drivers, in order to ensure the robbery team was in place. When the Brinks driver exited his armored car vehicle to deliver money to a bank or local business, the robbers ambushed him. In two cases, the defendants assaulted one of the Brink’s drivers, even after he turned over his courier bag.

           Some of the defendants used social media to show off large sums of money they stole during the robberies and photographed themselves making high-end luxury purchases. For example, within two days of the robberies, defendant Brock purchased vehicles in cash totalling over $36,000. 

           This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Metropolitan Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Cameron Tepfer and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Schneider. Valuable assistance was provided by AUSAs Josh Gold, Meredith Mayer-Dempsey, and Thomas Strong.

An AR-15 Weapon Used by the Defendants During the Armed Robberies

Defendant Brock (Right) and Defendant McNair (Left) robbing a Brinks armored car employee weapon with a firearm on December 8, 2021. Both Brock and McNair assaulted the driver by beating him with their pistols even after he turned over the delivery bag.

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WASHINGTON – Clarence Minor, 30, a previously convicted felon from Washington D.C. , was sentenced today to 46 months in federal prison for illegally possessing after pleading guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly ordered that Minor serve three years on supervised release when he is released from prison.

            The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, ATF Special Agent in Charge Anthony Spotswood of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives- Washington Field Division, and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Minor pleaded guilty on May 8, 2024, to being a felon in possession of a firearm. In addition to the 46-month prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Timothy J. Kelly ordered Minor to serve three years of supervised release.

            According to court documents, on June 17, 2023, a citizen called 911 to report having seen a young man pull a handgun from his backpack and place it his waistband on his right side. The caller provided details about the physical description, clothing, location, and direction of travel to the 911 operator. Within 10 minutes, MPD officers observed a man, later identified as Minor, wearing the same clothes walking in the area described by the 911 caller.

            Officers conducted a lawful stop of Minor, patted the right side of his waistband, and recovered a Glock19, 9 mm semi-automatic handgun loaded with one round in the chamber and ten rounds in a 31-round capacity magazine. At the time of the stop, Minor was carrying a small child on his right hip, directly over the top of the loaded handgun.

            A review of Minor’s criminal history revealed that he was on supervised release in D.C. Superior Court for a prior gun conviction when he was arrested in this case. Minor had only been back on the streets for four months before his arrest.

            This case was investigated by the MPD and ATF as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative. The matter was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James B. Nelson.

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WASHINGTON – A Jewish Voice for Peace, Inc., a Washington, D.C., based nonprofit organization, has agreed to pay $677,634 to settle allegations that the organization violated the False Claims Act when it applied for and received a $338,817 second-draw loan under the Paycheck Protection Act Program of the CARES Act Disaster Relief Program, and when it further applied for and was granted forgiveness of the entire amount of the loan.

            The agreement was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and U.S. Small Business Administration General Counsel Therese Meers.

            In March 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was created to provide emergency financial support to Americans suffering economic hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The CARES Act authorized billions of dollars in forgivable loans to small businesses and other entities, including non-profit organizations, struggling to pay employees and other business expenses. Under the applicable provision of the CARES Act, a business concern or other entity, including a nonprofit organization, is not eligible to receive a second draw loan if it is primarily engaged in political or lobbying activities, which shall include any entity that is organized for research or for engaging in advocacy in areas such as public policy or political strategy or otherwise describes itself as a think tank in any public document.

            At the time it applied for the second draw PPP loan, A Jewish Voice for Peace certified to its lender and the SBA in the loan application that it was “not a business concern or entity primarily engaged in political or lobbying activities, including any entity that is organized for research or for engaging in advocacy in areas such as public policy or political strategy or otherwise describes itself as a think tank in any public documents.”  It further certified in the loan forgiveness application that it met the conditions for receiving the second draw PPP loan. The investigation revealed that A Jewish Voice for Peace was primarily engaged in political activities.  A Jewish Voice for Peace contends that any misstatements in this application were inadvertent.

            “The Paycheck Protection Act Program existed to help businesses survive a devastating global pandemic,” said U.S. Attorney Graves. “When business owners unfairly drain those funds – either by not reading the eligibility requirements or disregarding them – they put the entire program at risk. In the end, those who are harmed are the businesses that actually qualified for and needed the money, and the taxpayers who funded the program.”

            “The favorable settlement in this case is the product of enhanced efforts by federal agencies such as the Small Business Administration working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, SBA’s Office of Inspector General and other Federal law enforcement agencies, as well as private individuals who uncover fraudulent conduct to recover the product of this fraud as well as penalties,” said SBA General Counsel Therese Meers.

            Under the False Claims Act, a party found to violate the Act must pay three-times the amount of damage to the United States. Had A Jewish Voice for Peace been found liable to the United States under the False Claims Act, it would have been ordered to pay three times the amount of the loan and lost interest, along with civil penalties for each false certification made in the loan application and forgiveness application. In connection with this settlement, A Jewish Voice for Peace agreed to pay an amount equal to two-times the loan amount, or $677,634.

            The settlement announced today stems from a Federal investigation that was initiated when another public interest group, TZAC, filed a whistleblower complaint pursuant to the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. The claims resolved by the civil settlement are allegations only. There has been no determination of liability in the civil case.

            The civil settlement was the result of an investigation by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen DeGenaro and Auditor Timothy Hurley of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.  U.S. Attorney Graves commended Attorneys Kandace Zelaya and Arlene Messengerlerner of the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of the General Counsel for their assistance in the investigation and settlement negotiations. The case is captioned U.S. ex rel. TZAC v. A Jewish Voice for Peace, Inc.

            Tips and complaints regarding potential fraud affecting COVID-19 government relief programs can be reported by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at (866) 720-5721 or by submitting a NCDF Web Complaint form at https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form

            WASHINGTON—Ruth Nivar, 57, a former D.C. Department of Human Services employee, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court to one count of Hobbs Act extortion under color of official right and to one count of conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act extortion under color of official right.

            The plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthews M. Graves, FBI Office Special Agent in Charge Sean T. Ryan of the Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division, and the District of Columbia Inspector General Daniel W. Lucas.

            The charges stemmed from a years-long scheme in which Nivar extorted money from low and no-income individuals to process applications for public assistance programs, even though it was part of her job responsibilities to do so free of charge. Nivar took money herself from these low-income victims simply to apply for public assistance. U.S. District Court Chief Judge James E. Boasberg scheduled a sentencing hearing for April 25, 2025.

            According to the plea paperwork, beginning at least since 2018 and continuing through at last May 2023, Nivar used the authority of her public office to obtain money from public assistance applicants to which neither she, nor the District of Columbia, were entitled. In 2022, after Nivar understood that law enforcement may have become aware of her scheme, she added an accomplice, civilian Yessica Moya, who did not work for the D.C. government, to assist in the extortion scheme.

            Because Nivar worked on public assistance programs for the D.C. government, Nivar was able to provide information to Moya about eligibility requirements for applicants – including certain documents that needed to be submitted with applications – as well as information about applicants from the internal DHS database, including historical benefits information, status of benefits, identity verification, and dependent information.  Moya then created online accounts and submitted application materials for health care coverage on behalf of the individuals they extorted. Nivar told individuals to pay Moya, who would then split the monies evenly with Nivar, even though it was Nivar’s duty to provide all these services for the community free of charge.   

            Moya pleaded guilty in the same case on January 8, 2025, to one count of aiding and abetting Hobbs Act extortion under color of official right and to one count of conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act extortion under color of official right. Her sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.

            This case was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division and D.C. Office of Inspector General. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Madhu Chugh and Will Hart of the Fraud, Public Corruption, and Civil Rights Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

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WASHINGTON – Jason Lewis, 42, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today for the killing of 13-year-old Karon Blake in January 2023, in the 1000 block of Quincy Street, NE, Washington D.C., announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Chief Pamela Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

           Lewis was found guilty on August 16, 2024, of three counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, and one count of voluntary manslaughter while armed, committed against a minor. Superior Court Judge Anthony Epstein ordered Lewis to serve an aggregate sentence of 12 ½ years. 

           According to the government’s evidence presented at trial, at approximately 4:00 a.m., on January 7, 2023, Lewis armed himself with a fully-loaded handgun and went outside his home in the 1000 block of Quincy Street, NE.  Lewis is seen on video leaving his house, aiming and firing at two young people who were fleeing their involvement in breaking into cars. After Lewis fired at those two people, hitting the car that one was driving, Karon Blake then ran in Lewis’s direction.  Lewis then fired two shots into Karon’s left side, killing him. Lewis claimed that he acted in self-defense because the two people that he initially fired at threatened him. In finding Lewis guilty of the assaults with a dangerous weapon, the jury rejected his claim of self-defense. 

           Lewis was arrested on January 31, 2023, and was initially held until he was released in March 2023, over the government’s objection.

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Graves and Chief Smith commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. They also commended those who worked on the case including Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeffrey Wojcik and Shauna Payyappilly, who tried and prosecuted the case.    

WASHINGTON – Bernard Matthews, 45, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 45 years in prison for the February 16, 2021, shooting of Diamonte Green in Southeast D.C. The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Chief Pamela A. Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            A Superior Court jury found Matthews guilty of first-degree murder while armed, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, unlawful possession of a firearm and carrying a pistol without a license on August 12, 2024, before the Honorable Michael O’Keefe.

            According to the evidence presented at trial, around mid-afternoon, on February 16, 2021, Matthews walked several blocks and sought out the victim, 22-year-old Diamonte Green, who was threatening the defendant’s son via Instagram. The defendant shot the unarmed victim eight times inside the entry way of an apartment building at 33rd and C Street SE, killing him.

            This case was investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. It was prosecuted and tried by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrea Coronado and Kathleen Gibbons of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

WASHINGTON - Total violent crime for 2024 in the District of Columbia is down 35% from 2023 and is the lowest it has been in over 30 years, according to data collected by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and announced by United States Attorney Matthew M. Graves. A breakdown of the data is available here.

           In addition to the overall violent crime reduction, homicides are down 32%; robberies are down 39%; armed carjackings are down 53%; assaults with a dangerous weapon are down 27% when compared with 2023 levels, with the District reporting the fewest assaults with dangerous weapons and burglaries in over 30 years.

           “The strategy this Office began to employ shortly after I came into this role has been to work with our law enforcement partners to focus on the drivers of violence - those gangs or crews of people who are dealing drugs, protecting turf, committing carjackings and other robberies, all while armed,” said U.S. Attorney Graves. “It takes time to develop these investigations and prosecutions, but this is the fruit of that labor - a reduction in the violent crime - that D.C. is now seeing.”

           A central component of this strategy has been targeting those crews who have preyed upon certain neighborhoods in our community, often operating drug trafficking networks in these neighborhoods. These proactive investigations and prosecutions have yielded immediate reductions in violence that have had lasting impact.  For instance, an MPD analysis of crime trends in the area around MLK Mellon before and after a crew operating a drug market in that area was arrested revealed that there was a 66% reduction in violent crime in the area when comparing the six months prior to the arrests to the six months after the arrests.  Even two years after these arrests, there was a 56% reduction in the number of homicides that occurred after the arrests when compared to the two years before.      

           Another key component of this proactive approach was implementing in April 2022, Project Safe Neighborhood - a daily review by the Office and our law enforcement partners of every firearms arrest in the District to determine, using objective criteria about the person arrested and the firearm recovered, whether the case should be charged in U.S. District Court or D.C. Superior Court.  Since April 2022, the Office has accepted for prosecution in U.S. District Court more than 150 gun offenders under this initiative. 

           Finally, the Office has continued to do all that it can to hold accountable those who commit violent crimes with firearms and those who illegally possess firearms.  And the Office has committed to provide on a quarterly basis data related to these efforts - data that can be found here.  This data reflects that in the first half of 2024, the Office was able to charge at the time of arrest more than 90% of arrests for violent crimes committed with guns and nearly 70% of gun possession arrests.  The Office continues to investigate many of these arrests even if it does not charge on the day of arrest. Also in the first half of 2024, the Office obtained convictions in approximately 75% of these gun-related cases. 

           These numbers related to firearms offenses are critical and stand in stark contrast to the overall day-of-arrest charging rate for every arrest in the District of Columbia, which is a significantly less informative metric.  The vast majority of arrests in the District of Columbia are for misdemeanor offenses that are often non-violent in nature.  For such offenses, the Office has had a longstanding practice of giving great weight to victims’ wishes about whether they want charges brought.  For a variety of reasons, a substantial number of victims do not want criminal charges brought for these relatively minor offenses.

           In Fiscal Year 2019, the Office expanded into a new section the number of prosecutors devoted to reviewing arrests and examining body-worn camera (BWC) footage - Fiscal Year 2018 was the first Fiscal Year where BWC had been fully deployed for the entire year - to determine whether the BWC footage reflected issues that would later require the Office to dismiss a prosecution or if there were otherwise fatal flaws with the case.  This section is called the Early Case Assessment Section (ECAS).  The combination of BWC footage and ECAS’s early detection of arrests that, if charged, would later need to be dismissed led to relatively modest decreases in cases charged at the time of arrest in Fiscal Years 2018 and 2019.

           The overall day-of-arrest charging rate dropped dramatically in Fiscal Years 2020, 2021, and 2022, as the global pandemic brought the criminal justice system to a halt and the D.C. Department of Forensic Sciences lost its accreditation in 2021.

           Our Office, along with our local partners, worked to overcome these challenges and the overall day-of-arrest charging rate in Fiscal Year 2024 of 57% is virtually identical to the 54% day-of-arrest charging rate that the Office reported in Fiscal Year 2019 after forming ECAS.  More significantly, though, the Office dismissed far fewer of the cases it charged in Fiscal Year 2024 than it did in Fiscal Year 2018, so more arrests resulted in a prosecutorial outcome in Fiscal Year 2024 than in Fiscal Year 2018.  For felonies, in particular, the percentage of cases with a prosecutorial outcome rose from 66% in Fiscal Year 2018 to 85% in Fiscal Year 2024.   

           There is value in addressing the issues, such as the lack of drug testing, that were preventing our Office from charging, at the time-of-arrest, non-violent misdemeanor offenses.  While charging more non-violent offenses can benefit the community and offenders are often sentenced to periods of probation with services that hopefully aid in rehabilitation, these cases typically do not identify and remove violent offenders from the community.  As is universally recognized, targeting the relatively limited number of individuals responsible for driving gun violence is the most impactful thing that prosecutors can do to contribute to the kinds of sharp declines in violent crime the District saw in 2024.  To that end, multiple proactive investigations are already underway that should further reduce violent crime in 2025. 

2024 Violent Crime Outcomes

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            WASHINGTON –Deon Cannon, 30, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 24 years in prison for shooting at a father and his 6-year-old son on Labor Day weekend in 2021, at Naylor Gardens on Terrace Road SE, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves and Chief Pamela Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Cannon was found guilty on August 7, 2024, of one count of assault with intent to kill while armed of a minor, one count of assault with intent to kill while armed, one count of assault with a dangerous weapon of a minor, one count of assault with a dangerous weapon, four counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, one count of unlawful possession of a firearm, one count of unlawful possession of ammunition, and one count of carrying a pistol without a license, following a jury trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. In addition to the prison term, Superior Court Judge Rainey Brandt ordered Cannon to serve five years on supervised release.

            According to the government’s evidence, at approximately 5:40 p.m., on September 5, 2021, as Cannon paced the sidewalk on Terrace Road SE, he waited to cross paths with the victim. When the victim walked from a nearby playground with his 6-year-old son, Cannon fired two rounds aimed directly at the victims. In defense of his son, the father fired back, while a second shooter came from around the corner and fired 17 more rounds aimed at the victim. The victim’s son ran away.

            Cannon was arrested later that day and has been held in custody since. 

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Graves and Chief Smith commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). They also commended those who worked on the case from the United States Attorney’s Office, including Assistant United States Attorney Jessica Ans, Paralegal Specialist Antoinette Sakamsa, Victim/Witness Program Specialist Jennifer Allen, and Supervisory Victim/Witness Services Coordinator Katina Adams-Washington. Finally, they commended Assistant United States Attorneys Sara Matar and Mark Levy, who prosecuted the case.

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WASHINGTON – Matthew M. Graves announced today that he is resigning as United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, effective January 16, 2025, after serving in the role for more than three years.

            “Serving as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia has been the honor of a lifetime,” said U.S. Attorney Graves.  “I am deeply thankful to Congresswoman Holmes Norton for recommending me; to President Biden for nominating me; and to Attorney General Garland for placing his trust in me.”

            Bridget M. Fitzpatrick, who has served as Principal Assistant United States Attorney—the highest-ranking career prosecutor in the Office—will become Acting U.S. Attorney when Mr. Graves leaves the Office. Ms. Fitzpatrick has over 15 years of federal law enforcement experience, including serving in the Principal Assistant role for three years.  She has been intimately involved in all significant matters the Office has handled during her tenure, working closely with the Office’s law enforcement partners that have been critical to a wide range of successful prosecutions and violence prevention efforts over the past three years.

            Mr. Graves was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 28, 2021, and was sworn in as the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia on November 5, 2021.  Mr. Graves first joined the Office as a career prosecutor in 2007, serving with distinction in both the Superior Court and Criminal Divisions of the Office, where he prosecuted a wide range of criminal matters, including violent crime, drug trafficking, illegal firearms possession, and fraud cases.  In 2010, he was named a senior Assistant United States Attorney within the Office’s Fraud and Public Corruption Section—a Section he ultimately helped lead, first serving as an Acting Deputy Chief and eventually as the Acting Chief of the Section.

            Mr. Graves led the Office in overcoming a series of unprecedented challenges, including addressing a nationwide rise in violent crime.  As a result of the Office’s efforts and the efforts of others involved in administering the criminal justice system, the District of Columbia will have, in 2024, the least amount of total violent crime it has had in over 50 years.

            While working to address the violent crime challenges that were plaguing the District when he joined the Office, Mr. Graves also led the largest investigation the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) has ever conducted to address the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021; oversaw the largest successful seizure in DOJ history, when law enforcement authorities recovered $3.6 billion in cryptocurrency from the hack of the Bitfinex global cryptocurrency exchange; and directed a number of other successful efforts, including prosecuting British American Tobacco and its subsidiary, resulting in $629 million in penalties and fines for illicit tobacco sales to North Korea; indicting members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) with a hack-and-leak operation against the U.S. Presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump; and charging a murder-for-hire plot targeting, among others, former National Security Advisor John Bolton; the trial conviction of the individual who operated the longest-running bitcoin money laundering service on the darknet, which had laundered $400 million in cryptocurrency; and obtaining a roughly $377 million resolution against a government contractor, which is believed to be the largest procurement fraud settlement ever.

Targeting Violent Offenders and Reducing Gun and Drug-Related Violence

            Under Mr. Graves’ leadership, the Office and its law enforcement partners have implemented and institutionalized processes for systematically reviewing relevant data to target violent offenders.  This data driven approach focuses federal prosecutions on the relatively small group of people in our community who are the primary drivers of gun and drug-related violence. A key component of this approach was implementing in early 2022, a daily review of every gun arrest in the District of Columbia to determine which cases should be targeted for federal prosecution or prosecuted in D.C. Superior Court.  This data-driven approach analyzes objective criteria about the offender and the recovered firearm, including the offender’s criminal record and intelligence collected about the person or the recovered firearm, to determine whether the person is a driver of gun violence and a heightened danger to the community.

            The Office has also used data to proactively target areas in our city where the majority of gun and drug-related violence occurs and to systematically dismantle criminal networks.  As a result of these efforts, we have prosecuted several large-scale, multi-defendant conspiracies, with ties to drug and gun violence to help make the communities in which they operated safer. Specifically, the Office has indicted violent street crews operating in and around MLK/Mellon, SE; Kennedy Street, NW; Greenleaf Gardens; Potomac Gardens; 7th & O, NW; Raum Street, NE; 21st and Maryland, NE; and 37th Place, SE. This data-driven approach has reduced the amount of violence these communities experienced.

            The Office has also targeted those responsible for shipping large amounts of fentanyl into the District, holding accountable those responsible for fatal overdoses and supplying the drug markets that serve as a magnet for violence. As an example, the Office held not just the dealer who caused a tragic overdose accountable for the death, but brought charges against the broader network of which the dealer was a part, indicting nearly 30 co-conspirators, including local re-distributors, intermediaries in California, and sources of supply in Mexico.

            At the same time, the Office continued to prosecute local violent crime aggressively in D.C. Superior Court.  Under Mr. Graves’ leadership, the Office indicted more homicide cases each year during his tenure than it did in any year during the prior decade.  The Office has also tried dozens of homicide cases to verdict during this period, obtaining justice for victims in a number of challenging cases.  For example, during Mr. Graves’ tenure, the Office conducted two successful multi-month trials against members of a crew, who opened fire in a courtyard in 2018, discharging more than 50 rounds of ammunition and killing a ten-year-old girl; convicted two defendants who were sentenced to more than 100 years in prison for a nine-day shooting spree that culminated in the 2020 death of a thirteen-year-old boy walking to a basketball game; and convicted an individual who was sentenced to 68 years in prison after a jury found that he murdered his girlfriend and her mother in 2021, before shooting his girlfriend’s sister and trying to kill his own infant by setting the apartment on fire.  

            The Office also continued its long-standing commitment to prosecuting perpetrators of domestic violence, sexual abuse against children and adults, child exploitation and human trafficking.  Throughout Mr. Graves’ tenure, the Office worked with its federal law enforcement partners to rescue more than 50 children who were being abused or sexually trafficked online.  Additionally, the Office obtained convictions and significant sentences against numerous sexual predators for first degree sexual abuse, including convictions obtained at trial for kidnapping and raping a stranger at knifepoint; sexually abusing children who lived in the same home as the perpetrator; and in cold cases involving serial rapists, including two life sentences imposed for a man who raped strangers in their homes in 2007 and 2010.  The Office also prosecuted several individuals who abused positions of trust, including obtaining a 30-year sentence against a government employee stationed in Mexico City who drugged and sexually abused dozens of women over 14 years.

            These law enforcement efforts contributed to the 35% year-over-year decrease in total violent crime in 2024, the least amount of overall violent crime in the District in over half a century.   

Addressing Challenges with the Criminal Justice Ecosystem

            In November 2021, there was a backlog of more than a thousand felony cases that needed to be presented to a grand jury and hundreds of cases that needed to be tried as a result of the global pandemic, which was choking the criminal justice system’s pipeline.  Moreover, the D.C. Department of Forensic Sciences (“DFS”) had lost its accreditation in spring 2021, so the Office lacked the DNA, fingerprint, firearms, and drug testing it needed to process and prove many of these cases. In addition to the pending case backlog and the forensic science issues, prosecutors faced a record number of motions filed by convicted defendants seeking early release from prison due to the COVID-19 pandemic or pursuant to changes in D.C. law that allowed many violent offenders to seek early release after serving 15 years.

            Mr. Graves realigned resources within the Office and worked with the Court and other external stakeholders to re-stabilize the system and address these issues.  As a result of these efforts, the backlog of felony cases pending before the grand jury was resolved by early 2023 for all cases; the backlog of pending trials for all misdemeanors and most felony cases was resolved by mid-2023; and, by late 2023, enough new experts had been identified and retained to handle the volume of forensic work historically performed by DFS.  As a result of these efforts, the criminal justice system is in an even stronger position than it was before the pandemic, with a greater percentage of arrests resulting in conviction or some other type of just result, such as successfully completing a diversion program in Drug or Mental Health court.

Protecting National Security

            Under Mr. Graves’ leadership, the Office has been at the forefront of our nation’s efforts to guard against illegal acts by malign foreign actors directed at the United States and to hold accountable those who target Americans when they are abroad.  These prosecutions include charging: members of the IRGC with a hack-and-leak operation against the U.S. Presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump and, separately, a murder-for-hire plot targeting, among others, former National Security Advisor John Bolton; U.S. and foreign defendants with a wide-ranging scheme, targeting over 300 U.S. companies, orchestrated by North Korea to place overseas IT workers, posing as U.S. citizens, at U.S. companies; multiple individuals spying or acting illegally on behalf of foreign powers; the person who is alleged to have constructed the bomb that downed Pan Am Flight 103, killing 270 passengers, crew members, and residents of Lockerbie, Scotland; and Haitian gang leaders who are alleged to have kidnapped Americans and illegally smuggled U.S. weapons into Haiti.

            The Office also brought a series of ground-breaking actions targeting those who sought to violate the sanctions and export control laws that protect our national security interests, including: seizures of hundreds of millions of dollars of illegally trafficked Iranian oil; a criminal resolution with $629 million in penalties against a corporation involved in the illegal sale of tobacco by North Korea; the seizure of a super yacht owned by a sanctioned Russian oligarch; the forfeiture of a Boeing 747 that was owned by an airline affiliated with the IRGC; the first criminal resolution against a company for the illicit sale of Iranian oil; and the indictment of Chinese nationals for illegally exporting U.S.-origin electronic components to Iran and Iranian military affiliates.

Defending Democracy

            On January 6, 2021, a violent mob of several thousand individuals stormed the Capitol and the United States briefly lost control of the grounds around the Capitol and much of the Capitol, itself.  More than 140 law enforcement officers were injured during the siege of the Capitol, making it the largest single-day mass assault of law enforcement officers in our nation’s history.  These events triggered the largest investigation in DOJ history.  To date, roughly 1,600 people have been charged in connection with the attack with almost 1,100 having already been sentenced for their conduct.  There have been over 170 contested trials with the United States prevailing in more than 99% of them.  These convictions include the first seditious conspiracy convictions since the trials stemming from the first bombing of the World Trade Center in the 1990s.  Because politically motivated violence and destruction rip at the fabric of our society, Mr. Graves made federally prosecuting such crimes a priority.

            Under his leadership, the Office also federally prosecuted self-professed climate activists who targeted priceless artwork and an original copy of the Constitution, and has charged those who assaulted officers and destroyed federal property after attending a protest related to the conflict in Gaza.  These prosecutions reflect the fact that people who engage in politically motivated violence and destruction will be prosecuted for their conduct, regardless of their political ideologies or beliefs.

Prosecuting Fraud, Public Corruption, and Civil Rights Violations

            Under Mr. Graves’ leadership, the Office prosecuted a number of cybercrimes and crimes involving cryptocurrency, such as the successful prosecution of the individuals responsible for the Bitfinex hack, where the government was able to recover roughly $4 billion in cryptocurrency stolen in the hack—the largest cryptocurrency seizure to date; charging individuals with engaging in a conspiracy to steal and launder over $230 million in cryptocurrency; the trial conviction of the individual who had operated the longest-running bitcoin money laundering service on the darknet, which had laundered $400 million in cryptocurrency; charging an individual with the hack of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s X account that was subsequently used to spike the value of Bitcoin; and recovering millions taken from victims in crypto-confidence schemes. 

            Other fraud prosecutions that occurred under Mr. Graves’ leadership include frauds on both the government and private parties, including indicting a former defense contractor and his wife for evading taxes on over $350 million in income earned through contracting; prosecuting individuals who collectively attempted to steal tens of millions of dollars in COVID-19 relief funds; convicting individuals who illegally traded on inside information; and convicting an individual who preyed upon thousands of distressed homeowners, bilking them of over $15 million while failing to provide any of the promised relief.

            The public corruption prosecutions include numerous successful prosecutions of D.C. government employees and their co-conspirators for bribery; the first successful prosecutions of individuals for contempt of Congress in decades; and the prosecution of a former high-ranking FBI official for false statements he made in connection with payments he had received from individuals with ties to foreign governments.

            The civil rights prosecutions include the first two convictions of Metropolitan Police Department officers for murders while on-duty; multiple prosecutions of officers for unlawfully assaulting and depriving their fellow citizens of their civil rights; and a ground-breaking prosecution of individuals who conspired to deprive people of access to lawful reproductive healthcare.

Protecting the Public Fisc

            Caseloads in the Office’s Civil Division tripled from 2016 to 2020, as a result of an increase in lawsuits filed against the government during that period. Under Mr. Graves’ leadership, the Office’s Civil Division met this challenge and defended federal agencies in more than 7,000 lawsuits, remaining the Nation’s experts on civil actions brought by requesters for records under the Freedom of Information Act and by medical providers seeking to challenge Medicare reimbursement decisions.  Resolving these suits in a just and equitable fashion protects the public fisc by ensuring that the United States expends funds in connection with these suits only when the facts and the law support that payment is warranted.  In addition to these defensive cases, the Office also successfully litigated a number of cases it had affirmatively brought against entities and individuals who had fraudulently billed the government, including a roughly $377 million resolution against a government contractor, which is believed to be the largest purely-civil procurement fraud settlement ever, and multiple resolutions involving software providers for defective pricing and fraudulent overcharges, including a trial matter where the court ordered combined damages in excess of $50 million.  The Office’s Civil Division also pursue actions against medical providers who fraudulently overcharged government healthcare programs and improper recipients of COVID-19 relief, who falsely certified their eligibility for that relief.

Providing Data Transparency

            Mr. Graves has led an unprecedented expansion of the data the Office releases about the important work it is doing to keep the community safe. In late 2022, Mr. Graves hired the Office’s first ever data scientist.  Shortly after the data scientist onboarded in early 2023, Mr. Graves oversaw the launch of monthly Superior Court Reports that provide key prosecutorial metrics related to the Office’s prosecution activities in Superior Court.  After launching these monthly reports, Mr. Graves negotiated an agreement with the D.C. Criminal Justice Coordinating Council where it shares data the Office provides on a quarterly basis related to prosecution metrics for those crimes that have the greatest impact on community safety, including violent crimes committed with firearms and illegal firearms possession. This effort provides unprecedented detail about the Office’s charging decisions for these offenses and how prosecutions for these offenses were resolved during the reporting period.  Mr. Graves also ensured that the Office invested in new technology to make the Office’s data transparency more robust and efficient when the technology goes live later this year.

WASHINGTON – Shane Brian Lamond, 49,  the former supervisor of the Intelligence Branch of the Metropolitan Police Department’s Homeland Security Bureau, was found guilty today of obstructing an investigation into the Dec. 12, 2020, destruction of a Black Lives Matter (BLM) banner and for making false statements to federal law enforcement officials, including lying when he denied tipping off  Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, the national chairman of the Proud Boys, to the fact that law enforcement had a warrant for Tarrio’s arrest.

            The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves for the District of Columbia and FBI Assistant Director in Charge David Sundberg of the Washington Field Office.

            “As proven at trial, Lamond turned his job on its head—providing confidential information to a source, rather than getting information from him—lied about the conduct, and obstructed an investigation into the source,” said U.S. Attorney Graves. “The intelligence gathering role that Lamond was supposed to play is critical to keeping our community safe.  His violation of the trust placed in him put our community more at risk and cannot be ignored.”

            "As a sworn law enforcement officer, Lamond took an oath to faithfully execute the law. Instead, he broke the law by providing confidential information to a source, obstructing an investigation into that source, and lying to federal investigators," said the FBI’s Sundberg. "His conviction is a testament to the FBI’s work to bring public officials to justice for abusing their positions of power and trust."

            Lamond, of Stafford, Virginia, was found guilty following a seven-day bench trial before U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson of one count of obstruction of justice in violation of D.C. Code Section 22-722 and three counts of making false statements in violation of Title18 United States Code, Section 1001. Judge Berman Jackson set a sentencing date of April 3, 2025. 

           According to the evidence at trial, Lamond worked as the supervisor of the Intelligence Branch of MPD’s Homeland Security Bureau. Beginning in July 2019, Lamond and Tarrio were in regular contact regarding Proud Boys planned activities in the District of Columbia as part of Lamond’s job responsibilities, but after the 2020 election, Lamond began using Telegram to surreptitiously provide information to Tarrio about law enforcement activity relating to Proud Boys’ activities in Washington, D.C. 

         For example, on December 18, 2020, Lamond gave Tarrio confidential law enforcement information into the investigation of the December 12, 2020, burning of a banner that read “#BLACKLIVESMATTER,” even though Tarrio was the prime subject in that investigation. Tarrio then passed this information to other Proud Boys. And, on January 4, 2021, while Tarrio was on a flight from Miami, Florida to the DMV, Lamond texted Tarrio, in a message set to self destruct, that a warrant had been signed for his arrest. After arriving in Arlington, Virginia, Tarrio drove to the District and was arrested on the warrant. Tarrio subsequently pleaded guilty to one count of destruction of property in connection with the burning of the banner.

           On June 2, 2021, during an interview with federal law enforcement, Lamond made at least three false and misleading statements regarding his communications and contacts that formed the basis for the false statements convictions. These false and misleading statements related to (1) whether Lamond had notified Tarrio about the status of the MPD investigation into the banner burning; (2) whether Lamond notified Tarrio about Tarrio’s pending arrest warrant; and (3) the nature and scope of Lamond’s discussion with Tarrio prior to and after January 6.

           The D.C. Code obstruction of justice charge carries a statutory maximum of 30 years in prison. Each charge for making a false statement carries a statutory maximum of five years in prison. The maximum statutory sentence for federal offenses is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes. The sentencing will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

           This case was jointly investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office and the United States Attorney's Office Criminal Investigations Unit. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Rebecca Ross and Joshua Rothstein.

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Sixteen separate cardiology practices and associated physicians, located across 12 states, have agreed to pay amounts totaling $17,761,564 to resolve allegations that they each violated the False Claims Act by overbilling Medicare for diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals.

Diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals are radioisotopes bound to biological molecules that target specific organs, tissues or cells within the human body and are used to diagnose and, in some cases, treat certain cancers and diseases. In 13 states and the District of Columbia, Medicare Part B reimburses healthcare providers for diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals based on the provider’s acquisition cost. In those jurisdictions, Medicare’s contractors have published guidance explaining the reimbursement methodology and providers’ obligation to accurately report their invoice costs for diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals. The government alleged that the settling cardiology practices regularly reported inflated acquisition costs to Medicare for these drugs. In each of the settlements, the conduct occurred for at least a year, and in some instances, the conduct extended over a period of more than 10 years.

“The financial stability of federal healthcare programs depends upon providers complying with applicable billing rules,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “We are committed to ensuring that Medicare funds are expended appropriately and to pursuing those who knowingly fail to do so.”

The settling medical practices and associated physicians have agreed to pay the following amounts:

• Western Kentucky Heart & Lung Associates PSC and Mohammed Kazimuddin ($6,750,000)
• Heart Clinic of Paris P.A. and Arjumand Hashmi ($2,600,000)
• Scranton Cardiovascular Physician Services LLC ($2,369,111)
• Shannon Clinic ($996,856)
• Edward W. Leahey M.D. Professional Association and Edward Leahey ($894,679)
• Metropolitan Cardiovascular Consultants LLC and Ayim Djamson ($846,888)
• Cardiology Center of New Jersey LLC, Mario Criscito, Frank Iacovone, and Sameer Kaul ($740,000)
• Clovis Cardiology Associates LLC and Mahamadu Fuseini ($600,000)
• Family Medical Specialty Clinic PLLC, Melecio Abordo, and June Abadilla ($409,594)
• James R. Higgins M.D. Inc. and James Higgins ($395,537)
• TrustCare Health LLC ($279,407)
• Taj Medical Inc. ($240,000)
• White River Diagnostic Clinic PLC, Margaret Kuykendall, and Seth Barnes ($234,490)
• Veinguard Heart & Vascular Center P.C. and Fareeha Khan ($195,000)
• Boulder Medical Center PC ($160,000)
• Wellspring Cardiac Care P.A. ($50,000).

“Practices and providers who overcharge the government and fail to return overpayments compromise our healthcare programs,” said U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves for the District of Columbia. “When people see the wrong and report it, we have the tool we need to put a stop to this type of irresponsible conduct. So, I applaud the whistleblowers who came forward in this case.”

“These practitioners overbilled the Medicare program by grossly exaggerating the acquisition costs of drugs used in diagnostic imaging of the heart,” said U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett for the Western District of Kentucky. “This office is committed to protecting our federal health care programs, and we will hold accountable anyone who seeks to exploit them.”

“Medicare providers are required to be honest and accurate in the costs they report for reimbursement,” said Special Agent in Charge Maureen Dixon of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “HHS-OIG will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate alleged false claims act violations and ensure the integrity of the Medicare program. ”

The civil settlement includes the resolution of claims brought under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act by relators Jasjit Walia and Preet Randhawa in the District of Columbia and the Western District of Kentucky. Under those provisions, a private party can file an action on behalf of the United States and receive a portion of any recovery. The whistleblowers will receive a total of more than $2.7 million from the settlements announced today.

The resolution obtained in this matter was the result of a coordinated effort between the Justice Department’s Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the District of Columbia and Western District of Kentucky, with assistance from the HHS Office of Counsel to the Inspector General and Office of Investigations.

The investigation and resolution of this matter illustrates the government’s emphasis on combating healthcare fraud. One of the most powerful tools in this effort is the False Claims Act. Tips and complaints from all sources about potential fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement, can be reported to HHS at 800-HHS-TIPS (800-447-8477).

Trial Attorney James Nealon of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ben Schecter and Matt Weyand for the Western District of Kentucky and Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Truong and Stephen DeGenaro for the District of Columbia handled the matter.

The claims resolved by the settlements are allegations only. There has been no determination of liability.

View the Heart Clinic of Paris settlement agreement here.

View the Leahey settlement agreement here.

View the Scranton settlement agreement here.

View the Metropolitan settlement agreement here.

View the Shannon Clinic settlement agreement here.

View the Family Medical Specialty Clinic settlement agreement here.

View the Taj Medical settlement agreement here.

View the TrustCare settlement agreement here.

View the Veinguard settlement agreement here.

View the Wellspring settlement agreement here.

View the White River settlement agreement here.

View the WKHL settlement agreement here.

View the Boulder Medical Center settlement agreement here.

View the CCNJ settlement agreement here.

View the Clovis settlement agreement here.

View the Higgins settlement agreement here.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced today the resolution of False Claims Act violations against 16 separate cardiology practices and associated physicians, located across 12 states, and their agreement to pay a total of $17,761,564 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by overbilling Medicare for diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia was involved in 14 of these settlements, resulting in a total of $10,601,970.97. The remaining amount was captured by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Kentucky. The Department of Justice also announced these settlements.

          Diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals are radioisotopes bound to biological molecules that target specific organs, tissues or cells within the human body and are used to diagnose and in some cases, treat certain cancers and diseases. In 13 states and the District of Columbia, Medicare Part B reimburses healthcare providers for diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals based on the provider’s acquisition cost. In those jurisdictions, Medicare’s contractors have published guidance explaining the reimbursement methodology and providers’ obligation to accurately report their invoice cost for diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals. The government alleged that the settling cardiology practices regularly reported inflated acquisition costs to Medicare for these drugs. In each of the settlements, the conduct occurred for at least a year, and in some instances, the conduct extended over a period of more than 10 years.

          “Practices and providers who overcharge the government and fail to return overpayments compromise our healthcare programs,” said U.S. Attorney Graves. “When people see the wrong and report it, we have the tool we need to put a stop to this type of irresponsible conduct. So I applaud the whistleblowers who came forward in this case.”

          “The integrity of federal healthcare programs depends upon compliance with billing rules that are used to determine reimbursement,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “We are committed to ensuring that Medicare funds are expended appropriately.”

          The settling medical practices and associated physicians have agreed to pay the following amounts:

•           Heart Clinic of Paris, P.A. and Arjumand Hashmi ($2.6m)

•           Scranton Cardiovascular Physician Services, LLC ($2,369,111)

•           Shannon Clinic ($996,856)

•           Edward W. Leahey M.D. Professional Association and Edward Leahey ($894,679)

•           Metropolitan Cardiovascular Consultants, LLC and Ayim Djamson ($846,888)

•           Cardiology Center of New Jersey, LLC, Mario Criscito, Frank Iacovone, and Sameer Kaul ($740,000)

•           Clovis Cardiology Associates LLC and Mahamadu Fuseini ($600,000)

•           James R. Higgins M.D., Inc. and James Higgins ($395,537)

•           TrustCare Health, LLC ($279,407)

•           Taj Medical, Inc. ($240,000)

•           White River Diagnostic Clinic, PLC, Margaret Kuykendall, and Seth Barnes ($234,490)

•           Boulder Medical Center, PC ($160,000)

•           (USAO-WDKY) Western Kentucky Heart & Lung Associates PSC and Mohammed Kazimuddin ($6,750,000)

•           (USAO-WDKY) Family Medical Specialty Clinic, PLLC, Melecio Abordo, and June Abadilla ($409,594)

          “These practitioners overbilled the Medicare program by grossly exaggerating the acquisition costs of drugs used in diagnostic imaging of the heart,” said Michael A. Bennett, United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky. “This Office is committed to protecting our federal health care programs, and we will hold accountable anyone who seeks to exploit them.”

          “Medicare providers are required to be honest and accurate in the costs they report for reimbursement,” said Special Agent in Charge Maureen Dixon, for the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “HHS-OIG will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to investigate alleged false claims act violations and ensure the integrity of the Medicare program.”

          The civil settlement includes the resolution of claims brought under the qui tam or whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act by relators Jasjit Walia and Preet Randhawa in the District of Columbia and the Western District of Kentucky.  Under those provisions, a private party can file an action on behalf of the United States and receive a portion of any recovery.  The whistleblowers will receive a total of approximately $2.2 million from the settlements announced today.

          The resolution obtained in this matter was the result of a coordinated effort between the Justice Department’s Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section and the United States Attorney’s Offices for the District of Columbia and Western District of Kentucky, with assistance from the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Counsel to the Inspector General and Office of Investigations.

          The investigation and resolution of this matter illustrates the government’s emphasis on combating healthcare fraud.  One of the most powerful tools in this effort is the False Claims Act.  Tips and complaints from all sources about potential fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement, can be reported to the Department of Health and Human Services at 800-HHS-TIPS (800-447-8477).

          The matter was handled by Trial Attorney James Nealon and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ben Schecter and Matt Weyand from Western District of Kentucky, and Stephen DeGenaro and John C. Truong from the District of Columbia.

The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.

WASHINGTON – Antoine Lynch, 38, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 18 years in prison for shooting Delonte Maxwell in the 2300 block of Pennsylvania Ave. Southeast in Washington DC, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Chief Pamela Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            The United States Attorney’s Office requested a 26 year sentence which would have been the top of Lynch’s 14-26 year guidelines range. Lynch pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder while armed, on March 22, 2024, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

            According to the government’s evidence, Lynch initially got into a verbal dispute with Mr. Maxwell as he was walking by Lynch’s residence. Lynch chased Mr. Maxwell away but when he later heard from a friend that Mr. Maxwell was still in the neighborhood, he left his residence armed with a firearm to find Mr. Maxwell. Accompanied by his friend and Lynch’s young daughter, Lynch found Mr. Maxwell walking along the sidewalk and proceeded to shoot him at point blank range as they passed each other.

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Graves and Chief Smith commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. They also expressed appreciation for the assistance provided by Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force. They acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant United States Attorney Kacie Weston, Paralegal Specialist Grazy Rivera, and Victim/Witness Advocate Christina Bloodworth.

            Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Ganjei, who investigated and prosecuted the case.

WASHINGTON – Amard Jefferson, 25, of Ft. Washington, MD, was found guilty by a Superior Court jury of one count of second-degree murder while armed, for the August 2021 murder of 20-year-old Kendall Brown, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). Jefferson was also convicted of obstruction of justice for trying to convince his girlfriend to tell authorities that she killed Kendall Brown – not him.

            Superior Court Judge Rainey Brandt scheduled sentencing for February 14, 2025. Jefferson faces a statutory maximum sentence of 60 years in prison.

            According to the government’s evidence, at approximately 4:28 p.m., on August 7, 2021, in the 3000 block of Nelson Place, Southeast, Ms. Brown and two others went to the apartment of Jefferson’s girlfriend to retrieve personal items that one of them left behind after moving out of the apartment. While there, a verbal argument occurred. The defendant, who was not initially involved in the verbal argument, escalated the argument by introducing and reaching for his firearm and threatening the women that he was going to “call his men.” Shortly thereafter, and without cause or justification, the defendant shot Ms. Brown. After locking the decedent into the apartment, the defendant fled with his girlfriend and a minor child. As he fled the crime scene, he stashed the murder weapon -- a black 9mm ghost gun – in a drainpipe a few blocks away.. Defendant Jefferson continued his efforts to prevent legal accountability a few days after his arrest when he attempted, through text messages and phone calls from the D.C. Department of Corrections, to convince his girlfriend to affirmatively and falsely take blame for the murder. 

            This case was investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide Branch, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Emily Kubo and Stephanie Dinan.  

WASHINGTON – Nahvarj Mills, 31, of Brandywine, Maryland, was found guilty today of 24 counts related to cyberstalking, disseminating sexually explicit photos, and multiple shootings involving two victims.

           The jury verdict, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, FBI Special Agent in Charge Sean Ryan of the Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division, and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

           According to court documents and the evidence presented at trial, Mills dated both victims at various points in 2022 and 2023. Each victim ended their relationship with Mills. Between November 2023 and January 2024, Mills, angry about the break-ups, stalked both women by sending them threatening text messages, calling them hundreds of times, and showing up to their homes and places of employment unannounced.

           Mills went to both victims’ houses and spread sexually explicit images of them on their lawns. He repeated this conduct at one victim’s home multiple times, spreading the photos outside her home, where her neighbors were able to see the images. He subsequently created a fake Instagram account that appeared to belong to the victim and disseminated the victim’s sexually explicit images to numerous individuals via Instagram. Mills ultimately enlisted the help of a friend to shoot at one victim’s home on multiple occasions.

           The jury found Mills guilty of multiple counts of cyberstalking, unlawful publication, assault with a dangerous weapon, possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, and unlawful possession of a firearm.

           This case was investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Washington, D.C.’s Criminal Investigation Unit, the FBI Washington Field Office's Violent Crimes Task Force, and the Metropolitan Police Department. 

           Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kathleen Houck, Marco Crocetti, and Caroline Burrell are prosecuting this case.

           The prosecution team received valuable assistance from Special Agent in Charge Matthew Fox-Moles, Paralegal Specialists Melissa Macechko, Elizabeth Rives, and Tiffany Jones, Victim-Witness Advocates Yvonne Bryant, Rogers Dickerson, and Tonya Jones, and Supervisory Litigation Technology Specialist Leif Hickling.

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WASHINGTON – Christopher Green, 38, of Washington D.C., was found guilty today of racketeering and other counts in connection with a 2017 shooting in Southwest that led to the death of a swim coach. 

           The verdict was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, FBI Special Agent in Charge Sean Ryan of the Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division, Chief Marc Yamada of the Montgomery County Police Department, Chief Malik Aziz of the Prince George’s Police Department, and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

           Following a 12-day re-trial, the jury found Green, 38, aka “Twin,” guilty of RICO conspiracy and kidnapping in aid of racketeering. U.S. District Court Judge Randolph D. Moss scheduled sentencing for March 31, 2025. 

           In 2021, Green was found guilty of first-degree murder while armed with aggravating circumstances, assault with a dangerous weapon, attempted robbery while armed, and robbery, for his action in the same shooting. 

           According to the government’s evidence, Green was a core member of a criminal organization that operated in the District of Columbia, Prince George’s County, Maryland, and elsewhere, primarily making money through a series of armed robberies. Green’s actions in Southeast Washington on April 9, 2017, led to the death of 25-year-old Zaan Scott. Mr. Scott, a coach at the Eastern Market pool, was on his way home from swim lessons when Green attempted to rob him at gunpoint. Mr. Scott died on May 17, 2017, of a blood clot that the medical examiner determined was a result of the shooting. Green also was found guilty of firing gunshots at another victim on Feb. 23, 2017.

            Green has been detained since his arrest in April 2017.

           The case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the Metropolitan Police Department, and the Prince George’s County Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nihar R. Mohanty and Michael Liebman.

19cr0019

WASHINGTON – Christopher Green, 38, of Washington D.C., was found guilty on Wednesday of RICO Conspiracy (racketeering) and Violent Crime in Aid of Racketeering (VICAR) kidnapping, in connection with a series of violent crimes he committed in early 2017.

           The verdict was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, FBI Assistant Director, Washington Field Office, David Sunberg, Chief Malik Aziz of the Prince Georges County Police Department, and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

           Following a 12-day re-trial, the jury found Green, 38, aka “Twin,” guilty of RICO conspiracy and VICAR kidnapping. U.S. District Court Judge Randolph D. Moss scheduled sentencing for March 31, 2025. 

           In 2021, Green was found guilty of first-degree murder with aggravating circumstances, assault with a dangerous weapon, and attempted robbery in connection with other offenses committed during the same period. However, the jury was unable to reach a verdict on the RICO conspiracy and VICAR charges, which led to the most recent trial and convictions. 

          In the 2021 trial, according to the government’s evidence, Green was a core member of a criminal organization that operated in the District of Columbia, Prince George’s County, Maryland, and elsewhere, primarily making money through a series of armed robberies. Green’s actions in Southeast Washington on April 9, 2017, led to the death of 25-year-old Zaan Scott. Mr. Scott, a swim coach at the Eastern Market pool, who was on his way home when Green attempted to rob him at gunpoint. Mr. Scott died on May 17, 2017, of a blood clot that the medical examiner determined was a result of the shooting. Green was also found guilty at the initial trial of firing gunshots at another victim on February 23, 2017.

       In the recent re-trial, the evidence at trial established that Green and a co-conspirator committed a series of violent acts and were working as an “enterprise” to enrich themselves. The VICAR kidnapping conviction in the re-trial involved an incident on April 8, 2017, in which Green and a co-conspirator confronted a young man at gunpoint as the man was getting out of his car in a convenience store parking lot.  Green ordered the victim back into the car and robbed him of his ATM card.  He then forced the victim to drive to a nearby apartment complex, where he forced him to take off his clothes, and then robbed him of his sneakers and other belongings. 

           The case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the Metropolitan Police Department, and the Prince George’s County Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nihar R. Mohanty, of the Violence Reduction and Trafficking Offenses (VRTO) Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Liebman, of the Superior Court Division Homicide Section.

19cr0019

WASHINGTON – Lucas Allen Fussell, 42, of Onley, Virginia, pleaded guilty yesterday to federal charges arising out of his distribution of child pornography to an undercover law enforcement officer in June 2024, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, FBI Special Agent in Charge Sean Ryan of the Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division; and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Fussell pleaded guilty on December 18 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to two counts of distribution of child pornography. The Honorable Rudolph Contreras scheduled a sentencing hearing for May 6, 2025.

            According to court papers, between December 20, 2023, and February 7, 2024, Fussell, using an anonymous account on an end-to-end encrypted messaging application, exchanged videos and images containing child pornography with another individual whose phone was later seized and searched by the FBI pursuant to a search warrant. In the course those conversations, Fussell shared details that revealed his identity. Those details included his home address, a description of his vehicle, and numerous sexualized comments about examining the genitals of patients—some as young as 11 years old—that he saw in the course of his work as a nurse practitioner.

            In June 2024, an undercover agent with the FBI-MPD Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force used the seized phone to respond to a message from Fussell on the end-to-end encrypted messaging app. On June 22, 2024, and again on June 30, 2024, Fussell sent the undercover agent numerous images and videos depicting the rape and sexual abuse of prepubescent boys. 

              On July 16, 2024, the FBI executed a search warrant at Fussell’s residence in Onley, Virginia, and seized numerous encrypted electronic devices. Fussell was arrested and has remained in custody ever since.

            Fussell faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a statutory maximum of 40 years in prison. He also faces mandatory restitution. The maximum potential sentence in this case is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentence imposed in this case will be determined by the Court after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

            The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul V. Courtney of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and Trial Attorney James E. Burke IV of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.

            The FBI Washington Field Office and MPD’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force investigated the case. The task force is composed of FBI agents, along with other federal agents and detectives from northern Virginia and the District of Columbia. The task force is charged with investigating and bringing federal charges against individuals engaged in the exploitation of children and those engaged in human trafficking. Valuable assistance was provided by the FBI Norfolk Field Office, the Accomack County Sheriff’s Office, the Onley Police Department, CEOS’s High Technology Investigative Unit, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

            This case is being brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit justice.gov/psc.

24cr345

WASHINGTON – Jereal J. Booker, 24, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced this week to an aggregate term of 59 months in prison in connection with his illegal possession of a loaded firearm in March 2023. At the time of the offense, Booker was on probation for a 2023 felon-in-possession conviction in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and a 2021 attempted carjacking conviction in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, Maryland.

            The sentences were announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves; Special Agent in Charge Anthony Spotswood of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Washington Field Division; and Chief Pamela Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Booker pleaded guilty on July 1, 2024, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon. On December 17, 2024, the Honorable Richard J. Leon sentenced Booker to a term of 51 months in prison. Upon his release from the prison term, Booker will be required to serve three years of supervised release.

            According to court documents, on March 21, 2023, an MPD officer observed Booker walking outside a convenience store in a manner that suggested he was carrying a firearm in the front of his pants. An employee of the store then told the officer that he had seen Booker adjusting a firearm in the front of his pants, and he showed the officer surveillance footage that corroborated his account. When the officer attempted to stop Booker in the 4600 block of Livingston Road Southeast, Booker broke into headlong flight. While fleeing the police, Booker discarded the firearm in some bushes before allowing himself to be apprehended. Nearby construction workers who had witnessed the chase alerted the officers to look in the bushes. They did so and recovered a .40 caliber, semi-automatic handgun loaded with one chambered round and ten rounds in its magazine. DNA testing later linked the firearm to Booker.

            Booker was arrested on March 21, 2023, and has been detained ever since.

            Federal law prohibited Booker from possessing a firearm because he previously had been convicted of crimes punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year, including a 2023 conviction for unlawful possession of a firearm in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and a 2021 conviction for attempted carjacking in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, Maryland. Booker was on probation for both convictions at the time of this offense.

            In the Superior Court case, Booker was originally sentenced under the District’s Youth Rehabilitation Act to a term of 20 months’ imprisonment suspended as to all but 12 months, and probation. Today, following Booker’s conviction in federal court, the Honorable Errol R. Arthur revoked Booker’s probation and sentenced him to a term of 20 months imprisonment, with credit for the 12 months he previously served, to be followed by two years of supervised release. Judge Arthur ordered that the revocation sentence is without the benefit of the Youth Rehabilitation Act and must be served consecutively to any other sentence.

            The case was investigated by ATF and MPD as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods. Valuable assistance was provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia.

            The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul V. Courtney, with essential contributions from former Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole G. H. Conte.

23cr103

WASHINGTON – AAR CORP. (AAR), a publicly-traded aviation services company headquartered in Wood Dale, Illinois, will pay over $55 million to resolve investigations by the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) arising from AAR’s participation in corrupt schemes to pay bribes to government officials in Nepal and South Africa.

           AAR entered into an 18-month non-prosecution agreement (NPA) with the Department. According to the company’s admissions in connection with the resolution, between 2015 and 2020, AAR conspired to pay bribes to government officials to obtain and retain business with state-owned airlines in Nepal and South Africa. AAR obtained profits of nearly $24 million as a result of the scheme.

           “Companies competing on a fair and level playing field is a core value that we expect any U.S. company or anyone doing business in the United States to embrace,” said U.S. Attorney Graves. “Bribery schemes, whether based inside or outside the United States, harm consumers and companies that are trying to lawfully run their businesses. That is why this office, along with our law enforcement partners, will continue to diligently pursue any individual or company that seeks to profit through corrupt or illegal means.”

           “AAR bribed high-level government officials to obtain business with state-owned airlines in Nepal and South Africa and reaped nearly $24 million in illicit profits as a result,” said Chief Counselor Brent Wible of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The Justice Department continues to hold companies and individuals accountable for engaging in international corruption. Today’s resolution also demonstrates how companies that proactively report misconduct, extensively cooperate, and timely and appropriately remediate will receive credit under the Criminal Division’s Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy, including in the form of the agreement, the amount of cooperation and remediation credit, and the length of the term.”

           “AAR, through its bribery of government officials in Nepal and South Africa, violated U.S. law enacted to ensure that U.S. businesses do not engage in foreign corruption,” said Special Agent in Charge William S. Walker of the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York Field Office. “Today’s outcome reflects HSI’s steadfast commitment to enforcing accountability within global commerce. HSI New York will continue to pursue all necessary measures to ensure that those who engage in corrupt practices, regardless of their location or position, are held fully accountable under the law.”

           In Nepal, AAR corruptly obtained business with Nepal Airlines Corporation, the state-owned airline of Nepal, related to the sale of two Airbus A330-200 aircraft by offering and paying bribes to Nepali officials through various intermediary companies. In South Africa, AAR corruptly obtained the award of an aircraft component support contract with South African Airways Technical, a wholly owned subsidiary of South African Airways, the state-owned airline of South Africa, by corruptly offering and paying bribes to South African officials through a third-party agent.

           As part of the NPA, AAR agreed to pay a penalty of approximately $26,363,029 penalty and $18,568,713 in administrative forfeiture. In addition, AAR will pay $29,236,624 in disgorgement and prejudgment interest as part of the resolution of the SEC’s parallel investigation. The Justice Department has agreed to credit the forfeiture to be paid to the department against disgorgement AAR has agreed to pay to the SEC.

Pursuant to the NPA, AAR has agreed, among other things, to continue to cooperate with the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia in any ongoing or future criminal investigations arising during the term of the NPA. In addition, AAR agreed to continue to enhance its compliance program and report to the Department regarding remediation and the implementation of compliance measures during the eighteen-month term of the NPA.

           The Department reached this resolution with AAR based on a number of factors, including, among others, the nature and seriousness of the offense. AAR self-reported to the Department conduct that forms, in part, the basis for the resolution; however, the self-report was not a “voluntary self-disclosure” as defined in the Criminal Division Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy (CEP). Prior to the self-report, several English-language articles had been published in media outlets in Nepal and South Africa that described potential irregularities in the relevant contracts in both countries, including that an AAR subsidiary had been summoned by a Nepalese agency investigating irregularities and corruption in connection with the procurement of aircraft. In addition, twelve days before AAR’s self-report, an independent source reported the allegations regarding the Nepal conduct to the Department. AAR received credit under the CEP for its cooperation with the Department’s investigation, which included (i) self-reporting the conduct that forms, at least in part, the basis for the resolution before AAR was aware the conduct had come to the attention of the Department; (ii) promptly providing information obtained through its internal investigation, which allowed the government to preserve and obtain evidence as part of its own independent investigation; (iii) proactively preserving, imaging, and conducting extensive forensic analysis of key electronic evidence, which included imaging mobile devices, recovering deleted documents, forensically recreating attachments from log files, and decrypting recovered chat messages; (iv) making regular and detailed presentations to the Department; (v) promptly collecting, analyzing, and organizing voluminous information, including complex financial information; (vi) meeting the Department’s requests promptly; (vii) voluntarily making employees, including foreign-based employees, available for interviews; (viii) collecting and producing voluminous relevant documents and translations to the Department, including documents located outside the United States; and (ix) producing documents to the Department from foreign countries in ways that did not implicate foreign data privacy laws.

           AAR also engaged in extensive and timely remedial measures including, among other things (i) conducting an enterprise-wide review of all existing high-risk third-party representatives and reducing its use of international sales agents; (ii) enhancing protocols regarding onboarding and vetting of third-party engagements, including heightened diligence and senior-level approvals; (iii) taking employment actions, including promptly separating one employee involved in the relevant conduct and disciplining other employees with oversight responsibilities; (iv) strengthening its anti-corruption compliance program by investing in compliance resources and expanding its compliance function with experienced and qualified personnel, including appointing a Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer and hiring a compliance monitoring manager; (v) implementing a compliance risk assessment program which has enabled AAR to proactively identify new areas of risk; (vi) enhancing public bidding policies and monitoring implementation of those enhancements; (vii) beginning to roll out a messaging application retention tool; (viii) implementing compliance auditing and periodic anti-corruption site reviews; and (ix) engaging in continuous testing, monitoring, and improvement of its compliance program.

           In light of these considerations, the criminal penalty calculated under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines reflects a 45% reduction off the applicable Guidelines sentence. The Department gave significant weight in evaluating the appropriate disposition of this matter—including the form of the resolution, the reduction in the penalty amount based on cooperation and remediation credit, and the length of the term—to the Company’s self-report of the misconduct before the Company was aware the conduct had already come to the Department’s attention.

           The Department previously charged two individuals in related matters. Deepak Sharma, a former AAR subsidiary executive, pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia on August 1, 2024, to a conspiracy to violate the FCPA for his role in the Nepal scheme. Julian Aires, a third-party agent of AAR, pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia on July 15, 2024, to a conspiracy to violate the FCPA for his role in the South Africa scheme.

           HSI New York is investigating the case.

           Assistant U.S. Attorney Madhu Chugh for the District of Columbia is prosecuting the case along with Acting Assistant Chief Katherine Raut and Trial Attorney Paul Ream of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs assisted in the matter.

           The Fraud Section is responsible for investigating and prosecuting FCPA and Foreign Extortion Prevention Act matters. Additional information about the Justice Department’s FCPA enforcement efforts can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/foreign-corrupt-practices-act.

Note: A copy of the non-prosecution agreement and attachments can be found here.

AAR CORP. (AAR), a publicly traded aviation services company headquartered in Wood Dale, Illinois, will pay over $55 million to resolve investigations by the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) arising from AAR’s participation in corrupt schemes to pay bribes to government officials in Nepal and South Africa. A former AAR subsidiary executive previously pleaded guilty for his role in the Nepal scheme, and a third-party agent of AAR previously pleaded guilty for his role in the South Africa scheme.

AAR entered into an 18-month non-prosecution agreement (NPA) with the Justice Department. According to the company’s admissions in connection with the resolution, between 2015 and 2020, AAR conspired to pay bribes to government officials to obtain and retain business with state-owned airlines in Nepal and South Africa. AAR obtained profits of nearly $24 million as a result of the scheme.

“AAR bribed high-level government officials to obtain business with state-owned airlines in Nepal and South Africa and reaped nearly $24 million in illicit profits as a result,” said Chief Counselor Brent Wible of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The Justice Department continues to hold companies and individuals accountable for engaging in international corruption. Today’s resolution also demonstrates how companies that proactively report misconduct, extensively cooperate, and timely and appropriately remediate will receive credit under the Criminal Division’s Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy, including in the form of the agreement, the amount of cooperation and remediation credit, and the length of the term.”

“Companies competing on a fair and level playing field is a core value that we expect any U.S. company or anyone doing business in the United States to embrace,” said U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves for the District of Columbia. “Bribery schemes, whether based inside or outside the United States, harm consumers and companies that are trying to lawfully run their businesses. That is why this office, along with our law enforcement partners, will continue to diligently pursue any individual or company that seeks to profit through corrupt or illegal means.”

“AAR, through its bribery of government officials in Nepal and South Africa, violated U.S. law enacted to ensure that U.S. businesses do not engage in foreign corruption,” said Special Agent in Charge William S. Walker of the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York Field Office. “Today’s outcome reflects HSI’s steadfast commitment to enforcing accountability within global commerce. HSI New York will continue to pursue all necessary measures to ensure that those who engage in corrupt practices, regardless of their location or position, are held fully accountable under the law.”

In Nepal, AAR corruptly obtained business with Nepal Airlines Corporation, the state-owned airline of Nepal, related to the sale of two Airbus A330-200 aircraft by offering and paying bribes to Nepali officials through various intermediary companies. In South Africa, AAR corruptly obtained the award of an aircraft component support contract with South African Airways Technical, a wholly owned subsidiary of South African Airways, the state-owned airline of South Africa, by corruptly offering and paying bribes to South African officials through a third-party agent.

As part of the NPA, AAR agreed to pay a $26,363,029 penalty and $18,568,713 in administrative forfeiture. In addition, AAR will pay $29,236,624 in disgorgement and prejudgment interest as part of the resolution of the SEC’s parallel investigation. The Justice Department has agreed to credit the forfeiture to be paid to the department against disgorgement AAR has agreed to pay to the SEC.

Pursuant to the NPA, AAR has agreed, among other things, to continue to cooperate with the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia in any ongoing or future criminal investigations arising during the term of the NPA. In addition, AAR agreed to continue to enhance its compliance program and report to the Justice Department regarding remediation and the implementation of compliance measures during the eighteen-month term of the NPA.

The Justice Department reached this resolution with AAR based on a number of factors, including, among others, the nature and seriousness of the offense. AAR self-reported to the department conduct that forms, in part, the basis for the resolution; however, the self-report was not a “voluntary self-disclosure” as defined in the Criminal Division Corporate Enforcement and Voluntary Self-Disclosure Policy (CEP). Prior to the self-report, several English-language articles had been published in media outlets in Nepal and South Africa that described potential irregularities in the relevant contracts in both countries, including that an AAR subsidiary had been summoned by a Nepalese agency investigating irregularities and corruption in connection with the procurement of aircraft. In addition, 12 days before AAR’s self-report, an independent source reported the allegations regarding the Nepal conduct to the department. AAR received credit under the CEP for its cooperation with the department’s investigation, which included (i) self-reporting the conduct that forms, at least in part, the basis for the resolution before AAR was aware the conduct had come to the attention of the department; (ii) promptly providing information obtained through its internal investigation, which allowed the government to preserve and obtain evidence as part of its own independent investigation; (iii) proactively preserving, imaging, and conducting extensive forensic analysis of key electronic evidence, which included imaging mobile devices, recovering deleted documents, forensically recreating attachments from log files, and decrypting recovered chat messages; (iv) making regular and detailed presentations to the department; (v) promptly collecting, analyzing, and organizing voluminous information, including complex financial information; (vi) meeting the department’s requests promptly; (vii) voluntarily making employees, including foreign-based employees, available for interviews; (viii) collecting and producing voluminous relevant documents and translations to the department, including documents located outside the United States; and (ix) producing documents to the department from foreign countries in ways that did not implicate foreign data privacy laws.

AAR also engaged in extensive and timely remedial measures including, among other things (i) conducting an enterprise-wide review of all existing high-risk third-party representatives and reducing its use of international sales agents; (ii) enhancing protocols regarding onboarding and vetting of third-party engagements, including heightened diligence and senior-level approvals; (iii) taking employment actions, including promptly separating one employee involved in the relevant conduct and disciplining other employees with oversight responsibilities; (iv) strengthening its anti-corruption compliance program by investing in compliance resources and expanding its compliance function with experienced and qualified personnel, including appointing a Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer and hiring a compliance monitoring manager; (v) implementing a compliance risk assessment program that has enabled AAR to proactively identify new areas of risk; (vi) enhancing public bidding policies and monitoring implementation of those enhancements; (vii) beginning to roll out a messaging application retention tool; (viii) implementing compliance auditing and periodic anti-corruption site reviews; and (ix) engaging in continuous testing, monitoring, and improvement of its compliance program.

In light of these considerations, the criminal penalty calculated under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines reflects a 45% reduction off the applicable guidelines sentence. The Justice Department gave significant weight in evaluating the appropriate disposition of this matter — including the form of the resolution, the reduction in the penalty amount based on cooperation and remediation credit, and the length of the term — to the company’s self-report of the misconduct before the company was aware the conduct had already come to the department’s attention.

The Justice Department previously charged two individuals in related matters. Deepak Sharma, a former AAR subsidiary executive, pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia on Aug. 1 to a conspiracy to violate the FCPA for his role in the Nepal scheme. Julian Aires, a third-party agent of AAR, pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia on July 15 to a conspiracy to violate the FCPA for his role in the South Africa scheme.

HSI New York is investigating the case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided valuable assistance. 

Acting Assistant Chief Katherine Raut and Trial Attorney Paul Ream of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Madhu Chugh for the District of Columbia are prosecuting the case.

The Fraud Section is responsible for investigating and prosecuting FCPA and Foreign Extortion Prevention Act matters. Additional information about the Justice Department’s FCPA enforcement efforts can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/foreign-corrupt-practices-act.

WASHINGTON – Aaron Herndon, 39, of Suitland, MD pleaded guilty yesterday to robbery of an 87-year-old in Northwest D.C., on May 5, 2024, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Chief Pamela Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            The Honorable Judge Jason Park scheduled sentencing for February 18, 2025.

            According to the government’s evidence, at approximately 1:00 p.m., on May 5, 2024, the 87-year-old victim was purchasing gift cards from the McDonald’s restaurant located at 4100 Wisconsin Avenue NW. Video footage from the restaurant shows the defendant approach the victim from behind, as he was exiting the restroom, and reach into the victim’s jacket pocket, and take his wallet. Multiple witnesses observed Herndon flee on foot. Herndon was subsequently arrested later on the same day by law enforcement wearing the same clothing he wore at the time of the robbery.

            This case was investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Negar Kordestani and Trisha Jhunjhnuwala of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Hannah Skopicki.

WASHINGTON – Corey Whittico, 21, of Washington, D.C., pleaded guilty yesterday to a federal firearms offense stemming from his possession of a loaded Glock firearm equipped with a machine gun conversion device in December 2023, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves; FBI Special Agent in Charge Sean Ryan of the Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division; and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

           Whittico pleaded guilty on December 17, 2024, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon. The Honorable John D. Bates scheduled a sentencing hearing for March 24, 2025.

           According to court papers, on December 19, 2023, MPD officers familiar with Whittico observed him broadcasting live video over Instagram. The video showed Whittico in the front passenger seat of a moving vehicle in Northeast Washington, D.C. During the live broadcast, Whittico brandished a black Glock handgun that was equipped with an aftermarket machine gun conversion device, which has the effect of converting the firearm to fully automatic and is colloquially known as a “switch.”

           As part of the same live broadcast, Whittico reached into the backseat of the vehicle and displayed black and clear plastic bags containing a green leafy substance consistent in appearance with marijuana. Officers located the vehicle in the Clay Terrace neighborhood of Northeast Washington and conducted a traffic stop. Following a search of the vehicle, officers recovered over three pounds of suspected marijuana and two Glock firearms: a Glock 27 equipped with a machinegun conversion device and loaded with 17 rounds of .40 caliber ammunition, and a Glock 45 loaded with 26 rounds of 9mm ammunition. Officers had observed Whittico brandishing one of those firearms—the Glock 27—on the Instagram live broadcast just minutes earlier.

           Federal law prohibits Whittico from possessing a firearm because he has previously been convicted of crimes punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year. For example, in 2023, Whittico was convicted of robbery in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, Maryland. Whittico was on probation for that offense at the time he possessed the firearm charged in this case.

           The case was initially charged in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. In January 2024, a federal grand jury empaneled by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia returned an indictment charging Whittico with the December 2023 offense. 

           Whittico has remained in custody since his December 19, 2023, arrest.

           Whittico faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine. The maximum potential sentence in this case is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentence imposed in this case will be determined by the Court after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

           The case was investigated by MPD’s Sixth District Crime Suppression Team and the FBI Washington Field Office’s Safe Streets Task Force. 

           The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul V. Courtney and Kyle R. Mirabelli, with valuable assistance from Assistant U.S. Attorney Cameron Tepfer and former Assistant U.S. Attorneys Colin Cloherty and Omeed Assefi.

           24cr13

WASHINGTON – Jamal Walters, 26, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced to 16 months in prison for unlawful possession of a firearm, announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Chief Pamela Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            On October 29, 2024, Walters was found guilty of one count each of unlawful possession of a firearm, carrying a pistol without a license, possession of an unregistered firearm, and possession of ammunition. In addition to the prison term, Superior Court Judge Jason Park ordered Walters to serve three years of supervised release.

            According to the government’s evidence, at approximately 9:40 a.m. on February 7, 2022, Walters was in the 2200 block of Savannah Street Southeast. Officers with the Metropolitan Police Department attempted to stop Walters who was leaving a grocery store armed with a handgun loaded with 17 rounds.  Walters fled on foot through residential backyards in the 3400 block of 23rd Street Southeast.  Walters jumped a backyard fence and tossed the gun.  Officers were then able to stop Walters and safely recover the firearm.

            This case was investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Katelyn Benton and Nickolas Reck. eys Katelyn Benton and Nickolas Reck.  

WASHINGTON – Gilberto Javier Apraez-Munoz, 55, of Puerto Milan Caquetá, Colombia, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. to 70 months in prison for using his relatively complex drug trafficking network, which included drug facilities in the Colombian jungle, to prepare and distribute large amounts of cocaine into the United States, specifically Washington, D.C. 

           The sentencing was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves of the District of Columbia and FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge David Geist of the Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division.

          Apraez-Munoz, aka “Veneno,” was extradited from Colombia on March 15, 2024, and pleaded guilty on September 17, 2024, to unlawful distribution of 500 grams or more of cocaine for importation into the United States. In addition to the prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered Apraez-Munoz to serve 60 months of supervised release. He will also face deportation proceedings upon completion of his prison sentence.

           According to court documents, in 2019 the FBI began a long-term investigation coordinated alongside Colombian law enforcement into narcotics trafficking intended for distribution into the United States. In August 2019, a confidential source (CS) and an undercover officer (UC) met with Apraez-Munoz in a café in Palmira, Colombia, to discuss a potential cocaine deal. During the meeting, Apraez-Munoz said he had been selling cocaine since 1996 and that most of his cocaine had been destined for Europe, but that he also sold cocaine sent to the United States. He added that he was familiar with drug routes, pricing, and the need for quality control related to his product. Apraez-Munoz noted his experience in producing significant amounts of high-quality cocaine because he operated his own cocaine production facility. He was aware that the cocaine would ultimately reach the District of Columbia.

           Apraez-Munoz told the CS and UC that the price would be $4,800,00 Colombian Pesos (COP) or approximately $1,300 per kilogram. The UC gave Apraez-Munoz a downpayment of $20,000,000 COP for a 10-kilo purchase. Before completing the transaction, Apraez-Munoz drove the UC to his manufacturing facility in the Colombian jungle to show him the operation, which included mixing and production labs. Ten days later, Apraez-Munoz brought 10 bricks of cocaine to a hotel room in Colombia. He reassured the UC of that the cocaine was high quality because of its intended destination of Washington, D.C. The UC gave Apraez-Munoz an addition $28,000,000 COP in exchange for the cocaine. The cocaine was later transported to a DEA laboratory in the U.S. for testing where it was confirmed that the substance was approximately 10 kilograms of cocaine.

            This case was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office. The matter is being prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Ernesto J. Alvarado and Assistant U.S. Attorney Nihar Mohanty with the Violence Reduction and Trafficking Offenses section for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

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